Crime Criminal Justice and the Probation Service

223 Pages·2022·29.556 MB·English

by  Robert Harris

Routledge Revivals

Crime, Criminal Justice and the Probation
Service
First published in 1992, Crime, Criminal Justice and the Probation Service is a
thought-provoking analysis of the role of the probation service in developing
an integrated system of criminal justice. Robert Harris provides readable
information about our knowledge of such areas as criminal statistics, victims,
fear of crime and crime prevention. He also explores the treatment of women
and ethnic minorities by the criminal justice system, the question of a sen­
tencing council and the future of community corrections. A central theme is
that all the professionals involved in the criminal justice system must work
more closely together so that the mistakes of the past can be avoided in the
future. The book therefore has a wide appeal not only to probation officers
and social workers, but also to criminal justice professionals and adminis­
trators, including the police and the legal profession.

Crime, Criminal Justice and the

Probation Service

Robert Harris
First published in 1992
by Routledge
This edition first published in 2022 by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 1992 Robert Harris
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in
any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points
out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes
correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.
A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 0415050340
ISBN: 978-1-032-31608-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-31055-6 (ebk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-31614-7 (pbk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003310556
Crime, criminal justice and
the probation service
Robert Harris
I~
Tavistock/Roudedge
London and New York
First published in 1992
by Roudedge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Roudedge
a division ofRoudedge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
e> 1992 Robert Harris
LaseIprinted from Author's disks by Gilcom Ltd., Mitcham, Surrey.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays ofChatham PLC, Chatham, Kent

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or

utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now

known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any

information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the

publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Harris, Robert 1947­
Crime, criminal justice and the probation service.
1. Great Britain. Crime
I. Tide
364.941
Library ofCongress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Harris, Robert, 1947­
Crime, criminal justice, and the probation service/Robert Harris.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Probation-Great Britain. I. Tide.

HV9345.A5H361991

365.6'3'0941--Gc20

ISBN 0-415-05034-0 91-3192
0-415-05035-9 (Pbk) CIP
Contents
Acknowledgements
V1l

Prologue ix

1 Criminal statistics - some themes and issues 1

2 Counting crime - beyond the official statistics 23

3 Fear, victims and community 46

..
The probation service and situational

crime prevention 66

S Women and girls, criminal justice

and the probation service 86

6 Race, criminaljwtice and the probation service 107

7 Sentencing practice and the social enquiry report 129

8 Supervision in the community

- towards delinquency management 153

Notes 176

Bibliography 178

Name index 200

Subject index 205

Acknowledgements

The feminine view appears to be that grumbling only makes things
worse, whereas I have always held that a fine grumble makes things
better. If I have not had a good breakfast, I argue, at least I have had
a good grumble.
a.B.
Priesdey: Delight)
Academics, though no slower than others to complain about their lot,
spend their working lives in the company of scholars whose ideas
provide almost constant stimulation. Of the many colleagues at Hull
University who have influenced this book, chief among them are Clive
Coleman and Adrian James, both ofwhom have stimulated and helped
me, as have Keith Bottomley, Martin Copsey and Larry Harrison.
Several former students, some of them excellent criminologists in their
own right, have done so too: not only Keith McInniss and Robert
Waters, whose influence on Chapter 6 is acknowledged there, but
others too, including Mary Candlin, Jan Hardcasde and Ian Warner. At
the Home Office I have received sound advice from Philippa Drew,
George Mair, Satish Malik and Colin Thomas; Brian Fellowes made
valuable comments on my schema; David Webb has enabled me to
reduce the number of people whom I shall inadvertendy offend; and
Mick Ryan has been characteristically helpful in relation to the politics
of probation. All of them are innocent of complicity in any errors and
probably tried vainly to persuade me to avoid them.
Families are usually thanked with varying degrees of effusiveness on
these occasions. Though I cannot match the memorable lyricism of
Flowers in Minorities and Criminality (or in its companion volume on
women, which just missed a citation), my own family know well how
they have helped me. In fact, in a slighdy unseemly breakfast time