Book review: The Rise and Fall of the Rehabilitative Ideal, 1895 – 1970
| Published date | 01 April 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1748895820914421 |
| Author | Barry Godfrey |
| Date | 01 April 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Book review |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895820914421
Criminology & Criminal Justice
2021, Vol. 21(2) 258 –259
© The Author(s) 2021
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Book review
Victor Bailey, The Rise and Fall of the Rehabilitative Ideal, 1895 – 1970, Routledge Taylor &
Francis Group, 2019; 568 pp.: 9780367077099, £100.00(hbk)
Reviewed by: Barry Godfrey, University of Liverpool, UK
DOI: 10.1177/1748895820914421
This book is well-written, meticulously researched (something which is generally char-
acteristic of Bailey’s publications) and uses contemporary documents written by govern-
ment officials, judges and magistrates, prison staff and inmates, and penal theorists, to
weave together a comprehensive, magisterial even, review of the history of ideas around
rehabilitation and retribution. No doubt about that, or the fact that this book will be wel-
comed by academic criminologists and students alike, but we have to ask: Is a book like
this needed? There are plenty of books which review social policy over longer periods of
time, and many focus on penal theory and practice, notably some contemporary publica-
tions which are still extremely relevant (such as Hobhouse, S. and Fenner Brockway, A.
eds. English Prisons Today, Longmans, 1922). Perhaps this book should be also read
alongside Bailey’s earlier study of juvenile justice policy (Delinquency and Citizenship
Reclaiming the Young Offender, 1914–1948, Clarendon, Oxford University Press, 1987)
not least because youth rehabilitation, which is not overly dealt with in Rise and Fall has
its own distinct history.
Nevertheless, given the battle still raging between penal reformers, prison abolitionists,
and the retributive brigade, Bailey makes a substantial contribution to the field. The debates
analysed by Bailey are as relevant today as they were in the late 19th and early 20th centu-
ries, and his overview provides a valuable map of debates, situations, and contexts which
can also act as a guide to developing social policy in the future. It shows how penal reform-
ism was powerfully expressed by penal theorists and internalised within certain govern-
mental spheres in the early to mid-20th century, but barely intruded upon judicial and
criminal law debates; judges and magistrates were perhaps more influenced by the media
and general public zeitgeist, and more inured against changing policy directions. This is all
fascinating and provides us with a clear understanding of how various parts of the criminal
justice system could together produce contrary and unaligned practices.
All historical studies have to start and end somewhere. Bailey starts his study with the
reforming zeal of Gladstone’s 1895 Departmental Committee on Prisons. This marked
the start (maybe a renewal) of new approaches towards the prisoner. The First Offenders
914421CRJ0010.1177/1748895820914421Criminology & Criminal JusticeBook review
book-review2021
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