Good Practice in Risk Assessment and Risk Management
| Published date | 01 June 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059604300210 |
| Date | 01 June 1996 |
| Author | Chris Tallant |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
99
David
Rose
comments,
’at
present,
this
dismal
vista
of
bureaucratised,
cost-
determined
justice
is
getting
worse,
not
better’.
He
observes
that
since
1993
legal
aid
has
been
paying
defence
solicitors
and
barristers
on
a
’fixed
fee’
basis
in
all
but
the
most
serious
of
cases.
The
defence
interests
lie
then
in
a
rapid
turnover -
not
in
dragging
things
out
in
Court.
Then
there
is
the
Police
Case
Disposal
Manual.
David
Rose
suggests
that
the
judgements
it
demands
are
even
more
subjective
than
some
of
those
required
by
the
code
for
crown
prosecutors;
he
notes
that
officers
of
junior
rank
take
fundamental
decisions
with
massive
implications
for
lives
of
those
they
arrest,
without
reference
to
any
court
or
outside
authority.
In
his
final
chapter,
David
Rose
notes:
’the
system
is
failing
in
its
first
and
most
essential
task,
to
separate
’factually
guilty’
criminals
from
the
falsely
accused.’
He
reiterates
that
the
fantasy
of
perfection
in
criminal
justice
was
dealt
its
coup
de
grace
with
the
release
of
the
Guildford
Four.
He
recognises
that,
’for
most
victims
and
defendants,
justice
has
become
an
industrialised
process,
determined
by
a
remote
bureaucracy,
whose
raison
d’être
is
to
avoid
expensive
contested
trials
as
often
as
possible’.
He
observes
the
deep
influence,
the
adversarial
mind-set
exerts
and
which
is
visible
at
the
very
centre
of
police
culture.
’No
less
than
barristers,
the
police
want
and
need
to
win
the
contest,
to
&dquo;get
a
result&dquo; ’.
He
questions
the
adversarial
system
which
is
not
what
he
thinks
it
should
be,
’a
search
for
truth’.
He
recalls
how
at
the
Conservative
Party
conference
in
1993,
Mr.
Howard’s
eyes
shone
with
excitement
when
he
spoke
of
redressing
the
balance
in
the
criminal
justice
system
that,
in
Mr
Howard’s
view,
had
tilted
too
far
in
favour
of
the
criminal
and
against
the
protection
of
the
public.
The
real
failings
in
the
criminal
justice
system
are
being
ignored,
whilst
a
revenge
justice
takes
the
place
of
the
more
benign,
if
seriously
flawed
regime,
that
went
before.
The
book
contains
much
well
described
case
material
and
it
is
at
no
point
a
dull
book
to
read.
Probation
officers
will
find
much
that
chimes
with
their
own
experience
of
the
criminal
justice
system,
even
if
they
take
no
comfort
from
what
they
read.
When
did
the
rot
set
in?
David
Rose
does
not
seem
to
me
to
answer
that
question
specifically
but
perhaps
it
is
implicit
in
the
book.
For
myself,
I
think
it
began
when
people
started
to
speak
(and
it
seems
to
me
they
have
always
spoken)
of
a
’war’
against
crime.
We
have
recently
learned
that
in
some
conflicts
there
are
no
military
solutions
but
political
ones.
It
is
more
than
time
that
we
applied
a
similar
lesson
to
other
spheres.
Chris
Stevenson
Probation
Officer,
Leyland
Good
Practice
in
Risk
Assessment
and
Risk
Management
Hazel
Kemshall
&
Jackie
Pritchard
(eds)
Jessica
Kingsley,
1996;
pp197;
£16.95
pbk
This
significant
book
is
the
first
one
of
a
social
work
nature
to
concentrate
on
’risk’
since
CP
Brearley
in
the
early
eighties.
However,
unlike
Brearley’s
solo
effort,
this
volume
is
made
up
of
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