Alternatives to Prison

As the UK and other nations face up to the consequences of a rapidly increasing prison population, so the search for alternative approaches to punishment and dealing with offenders has become an increasingly urgent priority for British government policy and society as a whole. This book, a product of the Coulsfield Commission and written by the leading authorities in the field, provides a comprehensive and wide-ranging review of the range of issues associated with using the variety of noncustodial sanctions, examining experiences in Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as England and Wales. The book will be essential reading not only for British government policy makers and criminal justice practitioners but for anyone with a professional or academic interest in prison, probation and the nature of societys response to wrong-doing. The chapters in the book cover such issues as trends in crime, victimization and punishment; sentencing frameworks; public opinion and community penalties;

As the UK and many other western societies face up to the consequences of a rapidly increasing prison population, so the search for alternative approaches to punishment and dealing with offenders has become an increasingly urgent priority for government policy and society as a whole. This book reports the results of the research programme commissioned by the Coulsfield Inquiry into Alternatives to Prison, which was funded by the Esmée Fairbairn 'Rethinking Crime and Punishment' initiative. It is written by leading authorities in the field, and provides a comprehensive, authoritative and wide-ranging review of the range of issues associated with the use of noncustodial sanctions, examining experiences in Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as England and Wales.

Preface 1. How Did We Get Here? The Editors 2. Trends in Crime, Victimisation and Punishment, Chris Lewis 3. Empirical Research Relevant to Sentencing Frameworks, Anthony Bottoms 4. Public Opinion and Community Penalties, Shadd Maruna and Anna King 5. Punishment as Communication, Sue Rex 6. Diversionary and Nonsupervisory Approaches to Dealing with Offenders, George Mair 7. Reparative and Restorative Approaches, Gill McIvor 8. Rehabilitative and Reintegrative Approaches, Peter Raynor 9. Electronic Monitoring and the Community Supervision of Offenders, Mike Nellis 10. Dealing with Substance-misusing Offenders in the Community, Judith Rumgay 11. Intensive Projects for Prolific/Persistent Offenders, Anne Worrall and Rob C. Mawby 12. What Guides Sentencing Decisions? Martin Wasik 13. Sentence Management, Gwen Robinson and James Dignan 14. Dimensions of Difference, Hazel Kemshall, Rob Canton and Roy Bailey 15. Attitudes to Punishment in Two High-crime Communities, Anthony Bottoms and Andrew Wilson 16. Pulling some threads together, The Editors