Community Sentences in England and Wales and the 'Punitive Turn'

• In Event: Programs and Issues Influencing Probation Outcomes

Abstract

Criminological interest in the 'punitive turn' has tended to focus on incarceration and to assume that the phenomenon has been a fairly recent one. The combination of historical myopia and penal narrow-mindedness, however, provides a limited and misleading account. The majority of those sentenced by the courts in England and Wales do not receive custodial sentences, yet there has been relatively little examination of how far the use of such sentences might have contributed to a 'punitive turn'. This paper explores how increasing punitiveness has characterised the development of community sentences in England and Wales for more than 50 years. It traces the key changes that have taken place in community sentences under a variety of governments since the mid-1950s to argue that - for a number of reasons - increasing punitiveness has been a continuous theme, whether or not this has been clearly articulated. The implications of this will be discussed.

Author

• George Mair, Liverpool Hope University