ABSTRACT
In 1977, Professor (now Sir) Anthony Bottoms delivered his inaugural lecture, ‘Reflections on the renaissance of dangerousness’. This was a critical response to the proposals of several committees to introduce indeterminate prison sentences for offenders deemed to be ‘dangerous’. Now 30 years on, his work is rarely cited in contemporary literature on dealing with dangerous offenders; he was anti-protectionist (against protective measures for ‘dangerous’ people) and the debate seems to have moved on with a greater focus on victims’ rights and protecting society. Nevertheless, the ethical issues he raised still implicitly permeate debates about how to treat or deal with dangerous offenders in the twenty-first century. A consensus has not yet been achieved. In fact, there are essentially three crucial areas on which agreement is yet to be reached: first, conceptual problems; secondly, practical and technical problems in predicting dangerousness and in applying the law; and, lastly, the role of politics.
