ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on measures of public opinion and on prisoner memoirs, on the publications of penal reform groups and prison officers, and on the research of the first cadre of criminologists. It considers the findings and recommendations of the reports of Royal Commissions and Departmental Committees and the frequent reports of the Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders, and it samples political opinion in both Houses of Parliament. The book also focuses on the adult offender, with only passing reference to the young delinquent. It presents the degree to which the rehabilitative ideal established itself between 1895 and 1970. Judges and magistrates were encouraged to use constructive non-custodial measures like probation, and avoid giving prison sentences that were too short for rehabilitative techniques to work.