ABSTRACT
It is difficult to think of an issue that has driven the criminal justice agenda more than that of dangerous offenders over the past decade or so. Emanating from concerns over the release from custody of predatory paedophiles in the mid-1990s through to popular associations between serious crime and mental illness in the dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) debate and the commission of further serious offences by those released from custody, dangerousness continues to be a major political driver. Because of strong media and therefore public interest, it also becomes a very significant aspect of everyday criminal justice practice, leading to the introduction of new policies and legislation at a bewildering pace. Thus the perception of and response to dangerousness has significant knock-on effects within the criminal justice process for other less serious and by definition more common offenders. This chapter will explore the development and impact of this agenda with particular reference to the working context of probation and police staff. It will argue that the responses to dangerousness have had a significant impact upon its perception and have, in effect, redefined and worsened the problem.
