Philip Priestley – författare

The working of the 1969 Children and Young Persons Act was the subject of much debate in the 1970s. Discussion had been strong on opinion and short on facts; this book, originally published in 1977, supplied some much-needed evidence, based on the results of a research project funded by the Home Office Research Unit. It also discusses the origins of the Act and its consequences for children and their families.

The authors describe the way in which two groups of children were dealt with by the police, social workers, probation officers and juvenile courts during the first three months of 1972. Their findings depict a system which decides what to do with ‘children in trouble’ mainly on the basis of their offence behaviour rather than on assessments of their personal needs – a ‘judicial’ rather than ‘welfare’ system of the kind envisaged in the legislation. As a result of these observations, the authors conclude that ‘the idea of the juvenile court has been tried and found wanting, and that it suffers from the congenital defects which fresh applications of money or manpower will fail to cure.’ They recommend the abolition of the juvenile court and the raising of the age of criminal responsibility, proposing a number of controversial alternatives based on principles of non-intervention.

The working of the 1969 Children and Young Persons Act was the subject of much debate in the 1970s. Discussion had been strong on opinion and short on facts; this book, originally published in 1977, supplied some much-needed evidence, based on the results of a research project funded by the Home Office Research Unit. It also discusses the origins of the Act and its consequences for children and their families.

The authors describe the way in which two groups of children were dealt with by the police, social workers, probation officers and juvenile courts during the first three months of 1972. Their findings depict a system which decides what to do with ‘children in trouble’ mainly on the basis of their offence behaviour rather than on assessments of their personal needs – a ‘judicial’ rather than ‘welfare’ system of the kind envisaged in the legislation. As a result of these observations, the authors conclude that ‘the idea of the juvenile court has been tried and found wanting, and that it suffers from the congenital defects which fresh applications of money or manpower will fail to cure.’ They recommend the abolition of the juvenile court and the raising of the age of criminal responsibility, proposing a number of controversial alternatives based on principles of non-intervention.

The punitive prison currently dominates the practice of Anglo-American criminal justice, stigmatising its victims as perpetual ''offenders'' and failing to change a majority of them for the better. Books of academic ''readings'' sometimes profess neutrality over the controversies they invigilate. Offenders or Citizens? sits on no such fences, its pages reflect the fiercely partisan nature of the contest between rehabilitation and punishment. Probation, social work, youth justice, law, corrections, criminology, journalism, philosophy, politics, popular culture, psychology, anthropology, and sociology – the voices of participants, professionals, and writers from many realms are all represented in this lively selection. Its aim - to stimulate and furnish a debate about the proper place of rehabilitation within a plural, morally defensible, and effective response to crime.

This book will be essential reading for both students and practitioners within criminal justice, who have an interest in the rehabilitation of convicted individuals, and providing an essential broader context to the ''what works'' debate.

The punitive prison currently dominates the practice of Anglo-American criminal justice, stigmatising its victims as perpetual ''offenders'' and failing to change a majority of them for the better. Books of academic ''readings'' sometimes profess neutrality over the controversies they invigilate. Offenders or Citizens? sits on no such fences, its pages reflect the fiercely partisan nature of the contest between rehabilitation and punishment. Probation, social work, youth justice, law, corrections, criminology, journalism, philosophy, politics, popular culture, psychology, anthropology, and sociology – the voices of participants, professionals, and writers from many realms are all represented in this lively selection. Its aim - to stimulate and furnish a debate about the proper place of rehabilitation within a plural, morally defensible, and effective response to crime.

This book will be essential reading for both students and practitioners within criminal justice, who have an interest in the rehabilitation of convicted individuals, and providing an essential broader context to the ''what works'' debate.

This handbook provides a unique overview of rehabilitation as practiced internationally in criminal justice. Through the contributions of a diverse group that includes, among others, academics (some of whom are former practitioners), research students, a judge, and a probation chief, it reflects common features of criminal justice in different countries and documents their diversity and celebrates their vitality. In recent times the idea of ‘law and order’ has been expropriated by populist, authoritarian and doctrinaire regimes, almost always and nearly everywhere in the service of arbitrary and unjust rule. By and large this handbook does not include such regimes. But ‘law’ itself also has the capacity to constrain rulers, and ‘order’ in the form of social peace is a universally approved civic asset. In part, the book provides a counter-narrative demonstrating that although criminal justice dispositions such as probation, prisons, and parole can be represented as a ‘via dolorosa’,rehabilitation as illustrated in these pages can become a journey that leads by degrees towards the possibility of a better life. The handbook will be of interest to students, academics, practitioners, managers, policy makers and all those who wish to gain insight into the why and the how of rehabilitation in criminal justice systems across the world.