Book Review: Criminal Litigation and Sentencing (4th Ed)
| Date | 01 June 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201839806200312 |
| Published date | 01 June 1998 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
Police Governance in England &
Wales.
By
ARTHUR
BROWN.
London: Cavendish
Publishing Ltd. Price: £19.95. SB.
This is an interesting and helpful 'first' by Arthur Brown, sometime inspector with
the Cheshire Constabulary, and now a college lecturer. There is a considerable
amount of law clinging to the office of constable, and still more in the complex
manner in which the police service in this country is administered. Is there, in fact,
a 'police service', or are there as many services as there are constabularies? What
is the relationship between the chief constable, often perceived to be an
autonomous and all-powerful figure in his force, the Home Secretary, who controls
the purse strings and exerts considerable influence in the general sense through his
duties in formulating criminal policy and promoting change in Parliament, and the
local police committees comprising councillors, magistrates and independent
members, to whom statute has given a range
of
non-operational duties in their
police areas? These questions and many more are answered in this book. The
author develops his text to consider the role of other bodies in controlling the
police, not least the judiciary, particularly through the development of judicial
review, and the liability which may arise for tortious conduct by police officers,
and, perhaps, in a somewhat more prosaic way, by the enhancement of the role of
HM
Inspectorate of Constabulary and the work of the Audit Commission. The
author not only looks at the evolution of the role of the constable from the earliest
days, but traces the statutory framework under which the police operate. The
work is also peppered with extracts from cases, many of them recent, which
illustrate the points made.
This is an authoritative work which will be invaluable to many police officers,
police committee members, and others who wish to learn more of the unique way
this country has, by a pragmatic system of checks and balances, provided for the
governance
of
the police, in a manner which givesthem considerable freedom from
direct political control whilst ensuring their accountability under the general law
of the land.
Hanging in the Balance. By
BRIAN
P
BLOCK
AND
JOHN
HOSTETTLER.
Winchester:
Waterside Press Ltd. Price: £19.50 (incl p&p). SB.
This book charts the abolition of capital punishment in Britain, a subject which
continues to provoke considerable debate and passion. Despite a number of free
votes in Parliament in the last decade or so, there is not the remotest prospect that
it will be reintroduced. The abolitionists regard that fact as being just and proper
recognition that Britain is at last a humane and civilised country, and that it is
wrong to revenge an act of murder with lawful execution by the state. Those who
would like to see the death penalty re-introduced refer inevitably to the incidence
of murders, the potentially deterrent effect of restoration, and the over-reliance on
the mawkish aspects of hanging when there are other methods of execution which
may be more acceptable (though no less final).
These authors have done a service in charting early moves towards abolition,
and then the thrust this century which culminated in Sydney Silverman's Act
leading to total abolition in 1969, when James Callaghan (who writes a foreword
to the book) was Home Secretary. Whatever one's views on the subject, it is a well
researched and compelling history.
Criminal Litigation and Sentencing (4th ed). By
PETER
HUNGERFORD-WELCH.
London: Cavendish Publishing Ltd. Price: £29.95. SB.
This Journal was favourably impressed by an earlier edition of this work, and the
latest edition is, if anything, even better. The author is a senior lecturer at the Inns
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