This chapter begins with a brief overview of the history of community sentences as alternatives to custody. It then explores the current situation with regard to community sentences and alternatives to custody, drawing on the most up-to-date research available. The chapter also discusses the political environment in which the probation service finds itself. The concluding section summarizes the key issues around the topic.
Chapter
8. Community sentences
George Mair
Chapter
13. Racism and ethnicity in the criminal justice process
Alpa Parmar
This chapter examines the ways in which racism and ethnic diversity influence the process and outcomes of criminal justice. The discussions include how minority ethnic groups are represented across the criminal justice process and the proportions they comprise at each stage of the process; minority ethnic people's experiences as victims, their patterns of offending, policing patterns, and rates of disproportionality; and the representation of minorities in the criminal justice professions. The conclusion examines present and future challenges for the criminal justice process in the UK.
Book
Susan Easton and Christine Piper
This book reviews the philosophical principles which underpin penal policy, sentencing and punishment, as well as examining the practical consequences of the legal principles enshrined in English law with an analysis of imprisonment and community punishment. The first part of the book covers the way sentencing law and guidelines are structured and discusses in detail retributivist and utilitarian justifications for punishment, as well as the current importance of public protection from risk and danger. It also covers those offenders and victims who can be dealt with differently, notably the mentally ill and children, together with ways of dealing with the offenders and their victims using restorative justice. Finally, Part A focuses on ways in which the impact of offending on victims and offenders can be reduced. Part B of the book covers in detail conditions in prison including the impact of the pandemic and the experience of imprisonment, especially in relation to women, BAME prisoners and other groups, where equal treatment is problematic. It also focuses on punishment and rehabilitation in the community, covering the available orders and the current approaches to rehabilitation. The civil and criminal orders available for use with those under 18 years of age, are also considered, as well as the way in which rights have been used to protect children in prison.
Chapter
8. Justice in the modern prison
In this chapter we focus on the treatment of adult prisoners, examining a number of aspects of prison life as well as considering the aims of imprisonment. Key developments since 1990 are considered, including the Woolf Report (Woolf and Tumin 1991), managerialism and privatisation, the implications of the Human Rights Act (HRA) 1998 and the impact of the pandemic, to assess whether the just treatment of prisoners has been achieved. While substantial improvements in prison regimes have been made since the early 1990s, there has also been considerable pressure on them from the expanding prison population. The problem of reconciling respect for the rights of prisoners with the administrative needs of the prison system and the deterrent function of prison is highlighted. The potential to reduce the prison population substantially in the current political climate is also discussed.
