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12 How. J. Penology & Crime Prevention 1 (1966-1969)

handle is hein.journals/hjcj12 and id is 1 raw text is: EDITORIAL Howard League- In 1866, a number of people, concerned with a better the first hundred years and more humane treatment of offenders and with the prevention of crime, formed a small association which they named after John Howard, the prison reformer. This small body merged, in 1921, with the Penal Reform League to produce a hardly larger organisation which broadly retained the aims of the parent body, as well as the name Howard, and emerged as the Howard League for Penal Reform. 1966, therefore, marks the hundredth birthday of a voluntary organisation which, some would say, was dedicated to officious meddling, others to main- taining civilised standards in our attitudes to crime and criminals, and yet others, to advocating a deeper understanding of the issues involved and a greater effective- ness in the application of modern concepts in treatment and prevention. No doubt all three ways of perceiving the Howard League's activities have justice in them. Meddling is very important. Whether done noisily or dis- creetly, the freedom to meddle, persuade, cajole, suggest and generally to question the affairs of government departments is a basic democratic liberty. Affirming or reaffirming civilised standards is hardly less vital. Nowhere, but nowhere- pace our friends in the penal systems the world over- can truly civilised standards be said to have been achieved completely. As for a deeper understanding of the issues involved and a greater effective- ness in the application of modern concepts in treatment and prevention, we are a long way from achieving these objectives. But because the issues are so com- plex, they require a greater professionalism in a body such as the Howard League. The challenge of the years to come will be whether the League will be able to continue to formulate proposals on social policy based not just on hunches but on sound criminological research and clinical information. Some idea of the nature of the issues as they used to be and as they are now will be apparent in the centenary symposium Changing Concepts of Crime and its Treatment which will be published during the course of this year by Pergamon Press. In this, eight distinguished criminologists and penal admini- strators trace the development of theory and practice and focus on some problems of today. Six of them are from this country but, true to the international links of the Howard League, two are from abroad, one from the United States and one from Belgium. In addition, the League, together with the Institute for the Study and Treatment of Delinquency and with the British Society of Criminology, is organising a British Congress on Crime. The purpose of this is to bring together three groups of people; those who teach, or undertake research in, criminology, sociology, psychiatry, social administration, psycho-analysis, law and case-work; those who seek to apply the principles that are being discovered and -taught; 1

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