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Editorial

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Date01 June 2000
DOI10.1177/026455050004700201
Published date01 June 2000
Subject MatterArticles
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EDITORIAL
The most recent tlntlsl1 crime Survey ’01 Attitudes to Crime (see summary in
ResearchlReports section) suggests that the public are in favour of ’tougher’ community
penalties to help reduce rising prison numbers, and generally support harsher sentencing.
However, when given the details of an individual case, people were generally more lenient
than sentencers. This fmding replicates the results of previous surveys, and suggests that an
educative, informative approach could be a powerful means of gaining public approval for
effective criminal justice policy. In spite of this, there still seems a marked preference for
policy which seeks to follow rather than proactively to influence public opinion. The
inexorable rise in the prison population (unsupportable in crime reduction terms), fuelled by
populist ’prison works’ and, more recently, ’tougher sentencing’ policies, seems to be a direct
result of such an emphasis.
The Missing Link: Effective Enforcement and Effective Supervision highlights a similar
contradiction in relation to community sentences. It criticises probation services for being
slow to realise the political importance of sound enforcement practice, but points out that
increasingly harsh breach directives can serve little constructive purpose. However ’tough’
it may seem on criminals to breach after one warning, this is very unlikely to be an effective
way to reduce crime. This point is further emphasised, in a more satirical way, by Pure
Fiction: ~1n Infallible Guide to National Standards, which describes the ultimately failing
efforts of a team of fantastical abilities to meet the basic demands of national standards.
Submissions which further develop this important discussion would be welcome.
Many of the other articles in this edition highlight the broad range of skills and underpinning
knowledge required for effective work. Parental Substance Abuse and Child Protection
provides a welcome consideration of this under-researched area. This...

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