Crime & Civil Society

367 Pages·2005·0.96 MB·English

Crime And Civil Society

Crime And Civil Society
Can We Become A
More Law-Abiding People?
David G. Green
Emma Grove
Nadia A. Martin
Foreword by
His Honour Judge Alan Taylor
Additional Essay by
Norman Dennis
Civitas: Institute for the Study of Civil Society
London
Registered Charity No. 1085494
First published February 2005
© The Institute for the Study of Civil Society 2005
77 Great Peter Street
London SW1P 2EZ
email: [email protected]
All rights reserved
ISBN 1-903 386-36 5
Independence: The Institute for the Study of Civil Society (CIVITAS)
is a registered educational charity (No. 1085494) and a company
limited by guarantee (No. 04023541). CIVITAS is financed from a
variety of private sources to avoid over-reliance on any single or small
group of donors.
All publications are independently refereed. All the Institute’s public-
ations seek to further its objective of promoting the advancement of
learning. The views expressed are those of the authors, not of the
Institute.
Typeset by Civitas
in Palatino
Printed in Great Britain by
St Edmundsbury Press Ltd
Blenheim Industrial Park, Newmarket Road
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Contents
Page
Authors vii
Preface
David G. Green ix
Foreword
His Honour Judge Alan Taylor xi
Understanding and the Social Sciences
Norman Dennis xvii
Summary xxxi
1. Introduction 1
2. Rival Explanations of Crime 23
Part I
How To Reduce Reoffending: The Evidence
3. Incapacitation and Deterrence 41
4. Rehabilitation 56
5. Prison-Based Therapeutic Communities 79
6. Prison Education and Work 92
7. Intensive Supervision in the Community 104
8. Community-Based Drug Treatment 124
9. Boot Camps and Shock Tactics 145
10. Financial Penalties 157
11. Post-Release Support of Prisoners—Throughcare 170
12. Probation and Restorative Justice 189
Part II
Conclusions and Implications for Public Policy
13. Can We Learn From America? 209
14. Guiding Principles for Public Policy 220
15. Government Policy in 2005 240
v
vi CRIME AND CIVIL SOCIETY
Page
Appendix 1 261
Appendix 2 262
Appendix 3 264
Appendix 4 266
Appendix 5 268
Appendix 6 270
Appendix 7 271
List of Abbreviations 273
Bibliography 275
Notes 297
Authors
David G. Green is the Director of Civitas. His books include The New
Right: The Counter Revolution in Political, Economic and Social Thought,
Wheatsheaf, 1987; Reinventing Civil Society, IEA, 1993; Community
Without Politics: A Market Approach to Welfare Reform, IEA, 1996; Benefit
Dependency: How Welfare Undermines Independence, IEA, 1998; An End
to Welfare Rights: The Rediscovery of Independence, 1999; Delay, Denial and
Dilution, 1999 (with Laura Casper); Stakeholder Health Insurance,
Civitas, 2000; Health Care in France and Germany: Lessons for the UK,
Civitas, 2001 (with Ben Irvine). He wrote the chapter on ‘The Neo-
Liberal Perspective’ in Blackwell’s The Student’s Companion to Social
Policy, (2nd edn) 2003.
He writes occasionally for newspapers, including in recent years
pieces in the Guardian and The Sunday Times (on health reform), The
Times (on race, NHS reform and crime) and the Daily Telegraph (on
crime).
Emma Grove grew up in London. She was educated at the City of
London School for Girls and the University of Edinburgh, graduating
with a First in Sociology in 2003. She was a crime researcher at Civitas
and is now working at The Times.
Nadia A. Martin was raised in Massachusetts where she attended the
Groton School. She earned her BSc degree at the Walsh School of
Foreign Service at Georgetown University. At Civitas, Nadia has
worked on crime, family and healthcare policy. Her previous works
include Marriage on MARS, a study of the Government’s support of
marriage and family, published by Civitas in 2002. She has appeared
as a commentator on the BBC and Sky as well as in newspaper articles.
Now based at the Stockholm School of Economics, she is pursuing
further studies and research in economics and finance.
vii

Preface
Our aim is to understand how best to encourage a more law-abiding
society. The study is organised as follows. The first chapter describes
the current crime problem and Chapter 2 goes on to discuss the main
standpoints in today’s public debate.
Part I, comprising Chapters 3-12, examines the various measures
taken to reduce offending, drawing a good deal on North American
evidence, where efforts to evaluate programmes have been far more
rigorous than here. Policing plays a major role in reducing crime, but
is the subject of a separate study by Norman Dennis, Cultures and
Crimes: Policing in Four Nations.1 Here we focus on the role of the
criminal justice authorities in reducing reoffending by convicted
criminals.
Part II, comprising Chapters 13-15, focuses on public policy
recommendations. Chapter 13 looks at the latest American thinking,
Chapter 14 sets out the guiding principles for reform and Chapter 15
appraises the policies of the British Government.
The authors are grateful to Rosie Milner, Josie Cluer, James Cave
and Ian Ginsberg for their research assistance during their time at
Civitas.
The study received funding from Reform and from the Esmée
Fairbairn Foundation’s Rethinking Crime and Punishment initiative,
each allowing a full-time researcher to be employed.
David G. Green
ix