Book Reviews : Progress in Penal Reform
| Published date | 01 June 1975 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057502200211 |
| Date | 01 June 1975 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
has to control (and often rightly) its
recalcitrant elements in the interests
BOOK REVIEWS
of the many. There is as yet, it
seems, no really valid alternative to
prison and even the latter could be
and should be a much better propo-
Prisoners of Society
sition, in viable terms, than it is.
Martin Davies
We are not conspicuously success-
Routtedge &
Kegan Paul, £4.95
ful according to Dr Davies and 20
In this book, Martin Davies provides
years of personal experience leads the
writer to offer a modest endorsement
a
fairly exhaustive study of the
’
of the view.
offender’s
progress,
through
the
We have a
labyrinth of penal practice, with
long way to go before
we are in a
particular reference to welfare
position to offer solutions
pro-
rather than
visions and the functions of the
apologies, if only because
the latter
Probation
are
&
After-Care Service.
cheaper, and easier in a
situation where atavistic considera-
Clearly, with its limited resources
tions still
confounding
apply.
any skill it may have,
It is hard
the Service is
going to read a book of
on a hiding to nothing
this kind, which takes such
in
a close
any really serious treatment stakes
look at the
and the author does not attempt to
Emperor’s goose pimples,
and I found it less than enjoyable,
suggest otherwise. He presents the
but I am glad that Martin Davies
facts as he sees them, comments in
felt able to write
restrained fashion and throws doubts
it, if only as a
contribution towards the establish-
where in the past we have had too
ment of a compassionate society.
many complacent assumptions.
KLH
For all those who like adjectives
like &dquo;exciting&dquo; and &dquo;challenging&dquo; the
book will hardly find favour. It is in
Progress in Penal Reform
fact
Ed. Louis
a comprehensive...
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