Book Reviews : M. WRIGHT, Justice for Victims and Offenders. Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1991, xi + 159 pp., £10.99 paperback, £30 hardback
| Author | Sandra Walklate |
| Published date | 01 September 1992 |
| Date | 01 September 1992 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/096466399200100311 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
435
REFERENCES
Gatrell,
V.
A. C.
(1990) ’Crime,
Authority
and
the
Policeman-state’,
pp.
243-310
in
F.
M.
L.
Thompson
(ed.),
The
Cambridge
Social
History
of
Britain
1750-1950.
Cambridge:
Cambridge
University
Press.
Nicholas,
Stephen
(ed.)
(1988)
Convict
Workers:
Reinterpreting
Australia’s
Past.
Cambridge:
Cambridge
University
Press.
ROBERT
P.
WEISS
Sociology
Department,
State
University
of New
York,
Plattsburgh
M.
WRIGHT, Justice
for
Victims
and
Offenders.
Milton
Keynes:
Open
University
Press,
1991,
xi
+
159
pp.,
£10.99
paperback,
£30
hardback.
The
idea that
it is
necessary
to
’redress
the
balance’
of
the
criminal
justice
system
by
re-introducing
a
role
for
the
victim
in
that
system
has
gained
in
popularity
since
the
1950s.
It
is
an
idea
popularly
attributed
then
to
Margery
Fry
and
which
has
a
present-day
supporter
in
the
shape
of
Martin
Wright.
This
book
constitutes
an
attempt
to
develop
an
understanding
and
appreciation
of
that
ideal,
and
the
value
of
applying
it
as
a
principle,
to
the
criminal
justice
system
as a
whole.
The
notion
of
restorative
justice
which
informs
this
text,
it
is
argued,
would
result
in
a
better
state
of
affairs
for
victim
and
offender
alike.
This
view
is
justified,
according
to
the
author,
on
the
basis
of
both
historical
and
cross-cultural
evidence.
Chapter
one
takes the
reader
through
a
detailed
account
of
the
restorative
principles
to
be
found
in
the
Middle
Ages,
and
their
gradual,
though
not
complete,
erosion
as
the
view
that
the
state
was
the
victim
of
crime
rather
than
the
individual
emerged.
Chapter
two
considers
current
criminal
procedure
and
addresses
the
strengths
and
weaknesses
of
a
system
for
both
victim
and
offender
which
is
rooted
in
the
principle
of
punishment.
Chapters
three
and
four
document
cross-culturally
both
contemporary
and
anthropo-
logical
evidence
of
criminal
justice
systems
which
have
accommodated
alternative
principles,
especially
the
principles
of
mediation
and
reparation.
Chapter
five
considers
the
efforts
which
have been
made
in
England
and
Wales
(and
elsewhere)
to
introduce
such
alternatives.
And
finally
chapter
six
outlines
the
basis
for
a
new
model
of
restorative
justice
and
discusses
some
of
the
likely
problems
of
implementation.
The
vision
of
a
criminal
justice
system
which
this
text
proposes
is
one
which ’would
be
a
change
at
least
as
great
as
the
adoption
of
a
rehabilitative
philosophy
in
the
Gladstone
Report
of
1895’
(p.
131).
However
this
statement
is
interpreted,
it
is
clear
that for
this
author
a
system
rooted
in
restorative
principles
would
make
crime
prevention
and
social
investment
the
general
deterrent
to
crime
rather
than
punishment,
with
the
consequence
that
any
crime
which
then
occurred
would
be
managed
in
terms
of
conflict
resolution,
requiring
the
offender
to
make
amends
and
the
appropriate
support
to
be
offered
to
the
victim.
Wright
suggests
that
such
principles
could
be
applied
to
even
the
worst
of
offenders
on
the
grounds
that
’a
lifetime’s
reparation
could
be
at
least
as
appropriate
as
a
lifetime’s
punishment’
(p.
131).
_
This
book
has
a
number
of
useful
features;
it
draws
on
some
interesting
material
not
readily
available
elsewhere
and
it
attempts
to
fracture
the
almost
taken-for-granted
distinction
made
between
civil
disputes
and
criminal
offences.
It
also
reflects
a
good
appreciation
of
some
of
the
practical
difficulties
associated
with
changing
the
criminal
justice
system.
As
a
thesis,
however,
it
is
narrowly
conceived;
the
likely
success
of
which
is
over-optimistically
assessed.
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