ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 examines the lead up to, and the essence of, Penal Practice in a Changing Society, the 1959 white paper that emerged from the reforming efforts of Home Secretary R. A. Butler. In the 1950s, penal policy and practice was in the grip of the twin pincers of a growing crime rate and prison overcrowding. The overall use of imprisonment actually declined in this decade (except for those aged 17–20), although the main replacement was not probation, but the “classical,” non-rehabilitative penalty of the fine. Even so, the prison population rose, in part because of the increase in the number of convictions for indictable offences, and in part because of longer sentences imposed by the higher courts (though two-thirds of prisoners still served six months or less). This led to severe overcrowding, and to a decade-long critique of the prison system, including that found in a number of prisoner memoirs. The Home Office turned to the Advisory Council on the Treatment of Offenders to combat the prison crisis, and the Council came up with a small number of alternatives to short terms of imprisonment, which had only marginal impact on the problem of overcrowding. Home Secretary Butler was determined to make an impact on penal practice, as he had done on educational practice during the war years. His 1959 White Paper looked forward to an ambitious prison-building program, to renewed faith in prison treatment and training, and to more research into the effectiveness of the different training regimes.
