Book Reviews : Planning for Service Robert Foren and Malcolm J. Brown Charles Knight. 109 pages. £2
| Published date | 01 September 1971 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057101700314 |
| Author | F.V. Jarvis |
| Date | 01 September 1971 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
95
Suspended
Sentence
Marc
Ancel
Heinemann.
£1.50
Written
for
the
Cambridge
Institute
of
Criminology,
this
is
perhaps
primarily
an
academic
work.
Monsieur
Ancel’s
purpose
is
to
trace
the
developmental
history
of
the
notion
of
suspension
of
a
definite
penalty
in
several
countries
but,
naturally
enough,
his
interest
lies
mainly
in
French
and
Belgian
practice.
It
is
fascinating
to
look
at
the
national
differences
over
a
period
of
time,
in
the
approacl
towards
in-
creasing
consideration
of
the
personal-
ity
of
the
individual
offender,
when
the
decision
arises
as
to
how
he
should
be
dealt
with.
Each
of
the
nations
he
men-
tions
~has
its
own
&dquo;mixture&dquo;
of
provis-
ions
connected
with
the
suspended
sen-
tence,
including
probation
in
one
form
or
another.
At
any one
time,
the
precise
nature
of
this
&dquo;mixture&dquo;
can
tell
us
quite
a
lot
about
attitudes
within
the
nation
concerned.
Statistical
information,
including
graphs,
relates
primarily
to
the
use
which
has
been
made
of
the
suspended
sen-
tence
in
various
countries.
As
usual,
~however,
as
soon
as
one
begins
to
exa-
mine
effectiveness,
in
terms
of
the
reduc-
tion
of
crime
and
recidivism,
one
quick-
ly
becomes
bogged
down
with
difficul-
ties
of
criteria
and
lack of
data.
There
seem
to
’be
some
lessons
to
be
learned
from
this
book
and
the
wealth
of
experience
behind
it.
Perhaps
of
most
importance
is
that
the
viability
of
the
practice
depends,
like
so
many
other
provisions
of
the
penal
system,
upon
the
way
it
is
used.
Ancel
several
times
em-
phasises
that
the
suspension
of
sentence
is
a
means
whereby
the
court
can
dis-
criminate
or
&dquo;individualise&dquo;
when
it
is
more
appropriate
to
avoid
the
dangers
of
immediate
imprisonment.
It
increases
the
scope
and
responsibility
of
the
court
and
its
officers.
Possibly
because
it is
a
translation
from
the
French,
the
book
is
a
trifle
la-
borious
to
read,
but
.it
leaves
a
clear
im-
pression
that,
in
Europe
at
least,
the
suspended
sentence
is
far
from
dying
of
misuse.
J.
LLOYD
Freedom,
Authority,
and
the
Young
Adult
John
Bazalgette
Pitman.
£1.80
This
book
is
the
result
of
a
report
to
the
Department
of
Education
and
Sci-
ence.
It
concentrates
on
the
interaction
between
adults
and
groups
of
young
people.
The
method
is
confrontation
of
adults
in
authority
by
groups
of
young
people
from
differing
milieu-a
student
group,
a
group
of
boys
on
probation,
a
group
of
young
employees
from
the
same
firm,
and
others.
Examination
is
made,
inter
alia,
of
the
defences
of
visiting
adults,
factors
influencing
the
behaviour
of
such
visitors,
some
inter-
pretation
of
the
situation,
and
an
assess-
ment
of
the
present
structures
and
potentialities
for
change
in
the
genera-
tion
relationship.
A
penetrating
and
shrewd
analysis
of
the
attitudes
and
predicaments
of
people
in
these
situations
is
made
by
Mr.
Baz-
algette.
It
is
of
great
significance
that
what
seems
to
emerge
is
that
those
who
were
aware
of
their
authority
as
adults
yet
able
frankly
to
discuss
the
problems
arising
from
such
authority,
were
able
to
establish
the
most
constructive
rela-
tionships
with
the
young
people
in
the
groups.
This
book
can
be
strongly
recom-
mended
to
all
those
interested
in
work
with
adolescents,
or
in
group
inter-
action.
W.L.H.
Planning
for
Service
Robert
Foren
and
Malcolm
J.
Brown
Charles Knight.
109
pages.
£2
The
Seebohm
Report
was
not
based
on
research,
and
the
Committee
naively
admitted
that
to
have
undertaken
this
would
have
delayed
the
publication
of
its
proposals.
The
authors
of
this
book
attempt
to
remedy
some
of
the
defects
of
Seebohm
by
providing
data
on
which
the
planning
of
a
multi-purpose
social
work
department
can
be
based.
The
attributes
they
demand
of
their
Direc-
tors
are
daunting.
&dquo;They
will
need&dquo;,
they
say,
&dquo;to
distinguish
between
cost
benefit
analysis
and
cost
effectiveness;
to
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