Extremist Dear Sir
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058202900331 |
| Date | 01 September 1982 |
| Author | David J. Luff |
| Published date | 01 September 1982 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
117
LETTERS
Extremist
Dear
Sir,
Your
article
by
John
T.
Fennell
entitled
’Just
Retribution’
certainly
stimulated
me
(PJ,
March
1982).
Why
is
it
that
when
societies
are
seen
to
be
breaking
down
or
coming
under
stress
they
tend
to
blame
those
who
they
can
easily
identify
as
being
different
for
the
causes
of
many
of the
problems?
Thus
minority
groups
within
a
society
are
labelled,
and
some
among
them
are
our
clients.
There
seems
little
recogni-
tion
that
within
the
same
society
this
group
of
people
might
also
be
labelled
as
’victims’.
These
phenomena
seem
no
different
in
either
capitalist,
socialist
or
marxist
societies.
The
individual
or
group,
hav-
ing
been
labelled,
take
the
blame
for
what
is
in
effect
the
failure
of
that
par-
ticular
society
to
prevent
the
behaviour
in
the
first
place.
Hence
right
wing
gov-
ernments
will
identify
criminals
as
the
cause
of
the
problems
in
society
and
will
advocate
repressive
measures
to
eradicate
the
problem
or
in
some
cases
the
individual.
In
communist
states
the
individual
or
group
are
suppressed
by
different
means
and
sent
to
prison
camps
or
secure
hospitals
for
’re-train-
ing’
or
’re-education’.
In
neither
society
is
there
much
willingness
to
recognise
that
basic
attitudes
within
those
societies
about
deviance
need
questioning.
A
liberal
view
of
the
world
is
often
not
popular
with
extremists
because
it
in-
volves
the
necessity
to
compromise
and
the
maturity
to
recognise
that
old-
fashioned
assumptions
of
being
right
or
wrong
are
too
simplistic
in
their
approach
to
the
problems
of
modern
society.
John
T.
Fernell
is
right,
when
he
says
that
the
system
needs
to
re-orient
its
perspective
but
the
re-orientation
he
suggests
wherein
violence
is
met
with
violence
can
only
exacerbate
the
situation
and
lead
to
increasing
conflict.
This
holds
true
whether
it
be
on
a
local
scale,
a
national
scale
or
as
we
sadly
see
at
present
time,
the
international
scale.
Whilst
everybody
would
like
to
come
up
with
a
magic
solution
to
the
prob-
lems
associated
with
criminal
or
deviant
behaviour
I
believe
that
the
Probation
Service,
with
its
wide
range
of
experience
and
ability
to
respond
uniquely
to
individual
or
group
needs
represents
one
of
the
best
organised
approaches
of
dealing
with
these
’problems’
in
our
society.
Whilst
there
may
have
been
some
loss
of
confidence
about
our
effec-
tiveness,
explained
I
believe,
by
more
demanding
work
loads,
a
drift
towards
John
Fernell’s
view
of
the
subject
would
be
a
disaster
for
all
concerned.
Yours
faithfullv
DAVID
J.
LUFF
Senior
Probation
Officer,
Bristol
Or
Just
Retribution?
Dear
Sir.
Deputy
Sheriff
John
T.
Fennell’s
con-
tribution
’Just
Retribution:
the
alterna-
time
to
Rehabilitation’,
Probation
Journal
(March
1982)
was
not
only
highly
read-
able
but
came
as
something
of
a
stem
to
the
flow
of
increasingly
complex
articles
in
the
Journal
concerning
methods
and
ideologies
related
to
the
rehabilitation
of
offenders.
Those
who
have
worked
in
Probation
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