NCJ Number
90813
Journal
Revue de droit penal et de criminologie Issue: 7 Dated: (July 1982) Pages: 625-630
Date Published
1982
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The ongoing struggle against the rising crime wave in the United Kingdom will benefit more from increased emphasis on man and society than it will from the imposition of impersonalized police measures and incarceration.
Abstract
In recent years the prison population has shown an unprecedented increase, reaching 46,000 in September 1981. More than 6,000 prisoners are housed 3 to a single cell, and 12,000 share a single cell with another prisoner. This situation exists despite the adoption of community service, probation packages, and group homes for certain types of criminals. The Government is obliged to assist in the current struggle against criminality, yet a synthesis of research conducted in the United States and in several countries in Western Europe, including the United Kingdom, demonstrates the relative ineffectiveness of the police. Other studies indicate that the construction of new prisons is not a long-term solution, and they suggest that alternatives to incarceration have done little to reduce the number of prisons and the number of incarcerated criminals. Evidence indicates that the police are more successful in combating certain specific crimes, and their efforts should be concentrated in these areas. More effective alternatives to incarceration also should be sought. Footnotes are included.