Table Of ContentDAVID FRASER
FOREWORD BY PROFESSOR DAVID MARSLAND
LAND FIT FOR
A
CRIMINALS
AN |NS|DEH'S VIEW OF CRIME, PUNISHMENT AND JUSTICE IN THE UK
.,R ‘A wanderfulantidotetothepmsanausmythssoassiduously
premotedbytheanti-prisonlobby. Thistrumpetblastagains?‘
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V‘V is currentdogmashowshowfarBritainhasgivenintocrime.‘
SundayTelegraph
Fortwenty-sixyearsDavidFraserservedinwhatisnowthe
NationalProbation Service. workinginbusyInnerLondon
magistrates‘courtsaswellasinprisonsinthecapitalandthe
south-west‘ He also worked as a Criminal Intelligence
AnalystwiththeNationalCriminalIntelligenceServicefor
manyyears.In 1998hegavewrittenandverbalevidenceto
theHouseofCommonsAllPartyCommitteeonAlternative
Sentencing.AlandFitforCriminals is theresultofmany
years of considered research and involvement with the
criminaljustice system. David Fraser is married with two
grown«upchildrenandliveswithhiswifeinBristol.
FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin2006by
TheBookGuildLtd
25Highsum
Lewes.EastSussex
BN7ZLU
Copyright6DavidFraser2006
Secondprinting2006
Firstpaperbackedition2007
TherightofDavidFrasertobeidentifiedastheauthorof
thisworkhasbeenassertedbyhiminaccordancewiththe
Copyright.DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
transmitted,orstoredinIretrievalsystem,inanyformorbyanymeans.
withoutpennissioninwritingfromthepublisher,notbeotherwise
circulatedinanyformofbindingorcoverotherthanthatinwhichitis
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purchaser.
TypesettinginTimesby
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PrintedinGreatBritainby
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Acataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefrom
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ISBN978I846242052
To Martyn Samuel, a lifelong friend
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Contents
Foreword xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xxi
Author's Note xxiii
Explanation of Terms XXV
Introduction: Under Crime's Lengthening Shadow
‘ A Lost World
-
*
J The Retreat from Reality
\
I
J The Undeclared Propaganda War
b
> A Review of a Dysfunctional System
J
- Prisons: British Errors and American Enlightenment
I
J
l Failure, Deception and Cover-up
\
O
The Research Confidence Trick
I
~
O The Persistent Offender
0 Subversion, Defeat and Statistics of Terror 223
D
»-©\ If You Value Peace, Guard Justice 261
-
—
n"‘ All the Kings Men 293
—-J
al\ Human Rights and Wrongs 315
—J
>.b Let the Victims Speak 331
ix
I4 Dampening the Flames of Protest 351
15 Stepping Back from the Brink 365
Epilogue 387
Notes 389
References 397
Index 449
Foreword
Social scientists, civil servants and Ministers of the Crown have
conspired for decades to deceive the public about the state of law
and order. They have consistently underestimated the level and
severity of crime. They have insisted on the efficacy of methods of
crime prevention and control which patently do not work. They
have stubbornly persisted with utopian theories ofcrime, criminality
and punishment which fail entirely to take account ofhuman nature
andsocialreality.Theyhaveroutinelybelittledtheeverydayconcerns
about crime of the man and woman in the street. They have
condescendingly denigrated the genuine understanding ofcriminality
provided by commonsensical experience. They have rubbished the
real expertise about law and order based on daily involvement
—
with the destructive effects ofcrime ofpolice officers, magistrates,
—
probation officers and local councillors. Modern criminology con-
stitutes a tissue of pseudo-liberal prejudice and counter-productive
phoney knowledge. Contemporary penal policy comprises a vast
body ofmisconceived and nonsensical doctrine which has the effect
of exculpating criminals, punishing victims and escalating social
collapse.
David Fraser's bookA LandFitfor Criminalsprovides a welcome
and overdue antidote. Based on many years of experience in the
ProbationService, oncarefulanalysis ofstatisticsanddocumentation,
and on thoughtful, intelligent appraisal of all the relevant facts, it
reveals the appalling state oflaw and order in modem Britain. More
than this, it proposes a way forward for improving the situation and
getting crime back under control.
I strongly commend A [and Fitfor Criminals: to zdl those who
work in the criminal justice system; to students currently force-
—
xi
fedwith lies andpropagandaaboutcrime; tojournalists commonly
-
deceived by highly spun statistics; to our elected representatives at
local and parliamentary level who should all have to hand this
—
truthful and realistic account ofthe state of lawlessness and disorder
on our streets; and not least to the general reader who will find
—
here a rational vindication of his or her concerns and anxieties, and
support for popular determination to punish and control criminals
effectively.
In a recent letter to the press (London Evening Standard. 29 July
2004), PC Norman Brennan of the Victims of Crime Trust wrote
as follows: ‘I believe the situation on law and order is so bad that,
to borrow a medical term, it is on a life-support machine. In my
personal and professional opinion, the criminal justice system is in
crisis.’ A Land Fitfor Criminals makes a powerful contribution to
addressing this crisis. I hope that it is widely read, that the validity
of its analysis is acknowledged and that the policy proposals it
suggests are put into effect urgently.
We must not wait for action until the domestic equivalent of the
9/ll Attacks generalised community decay, widespread riot and
—
everyday resort to vigilantejustice is upon us. Before this happens
_—
and it may be quite soon, as suddenly and unpredictably as 9/ll
-
we must start to trust and support the police, clean up the courts
-
and strengthen them, and catch criminals and punish them hard.
Professor David Marsland, MA, Ph.D, FRSH
September 2004
xii
Preface
Every year in the UK at least 30 million people are victimised by
criminalsallowedtoroamfreeinthecommunity.Yet,on5 December
2004, despite the often harmful consequences for the individuals
and families involved, the govemment‘s feeble response to this
national scandal was to propose improved conditions in court for
victims and witnesses to ‘reduce their stress’. This is the equivalent
of providing slightly more comfortable seats in hospital waiting
rooms for patients made ill in the first place by the quack medicines
still being prescribed for them. This book is therefore written for
the thousands of people who are involved with, or work in, the
criminal justice system, be they ministers of state, government
advisors. MP5, administrators or policy makers in the civil service,
senior and from-line personnel in police, probation, and prison
departments, students, youth justice workers, judges, magistrates,
clerks and others associated with the courts, as well as all drug and
rehabilitation workers who work with offenders. It is an appeal to
them to become aware of the immense hann caused to the public
by current criminal justice policies. It is also aimed at the general
public, to help them understand how and why our justice system
disrupts and disadvantages them rather than the criminals.
It therefore presents an analysis of crime, punishment andjustice
from the point of view of the crime-beleaguered public, rather than
from the closed world inhabited by many criminologists, who
frequently view crime from me offender's perspective.
It is not, therefore, a calm, dispassionate review of this subject
the sort that academic criminologists write for other academics
—
to read. It is, as I have indicated, a passionate cry for the public
to be aware of the gross deceptions that are worked on them by
xiii
