Review: Judgement Impaired, Understanding Street Drugs: A Handbook of Substance Misuse for Parents, Teachers and other Professionals
| Author | Rob R. Jerrard,Brian Rowland,Leonard Jason-Lloyd |
| Date | 01 September 2006 |
| DOI | 10.1350/pojo.2006.79.3.285 |
| Published date | 01 September 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
ROB R. JERRARD
Reviews Editor
www.rjerrard.co.uk
REVIEWS
JUDGEMENT IMPAIRED
Michael Hughes
Hande-Cuffe Publications, 2005
ISBN: 0955039703; price £30 RRP UK
Reviewed by Brian Rowland
This is a big book about a big subject, the criminal justice
system. Inevitably it is also a subject where opposite sides are
extreme and where their coming together is never going to be
easy. The author sets out his stall by the cover, which suggests
that the criminal justice system must be put in the dock. In fact it
is a fine old rant from one extreme against all that many police
officers in the course of their careers must at least have sym-
pathised with, particularly the more industrious. Sadly it does
allow an element of cynicism to creep into the minds of any
hard-working officer who, having toiled over difficult and com-
plex matters for very long periods of time, finds his efforts are
not rewarded by a successful prosecution or even a prosecution
at all. Such cynicism is, however, something to be avoided if a
true balance is to be struck allowing the innocent to go free and
the guilty to suffer for their misdeeds. This is important bearing
in mind that we have, pro rata, one of the highest numbers of
persons in prison in the developed world, indicating that other
countries are able to operate a criminal justice system that
perhaps, while not as punitive as ours, at the same time seems to
satisfy the requirements of the populace.
All elements of the criminal justice system have to take their
place in an attack coming from the right wing, which would, if
followed to the letter of Judgement Impaired, very quickly fill
our custodial establishments with individuals serving the max-
imum allowable sentence, some of which are criticised as being
too short. At the time of this review the prison population is
something more than 77,000 and just marginally short of the
absolute number that could be housed. Goodness knows how
many would be incarcerated if the thoughts expounded by the
author were put into practice. Even if such thoughts could be
implemented, the pages fail to reflect the fact that so many
The Police Journal, Volume 79 (2006) 285
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