![handle is hein.journals/hjcj34 and id is 1 raw text is:
@ Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1995, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 I]F, UK
and 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
The Howard Journal Vol 34 No 1. Feb 95
ISSN 0265-5527
Community Alternatives
Reconsidered
KATH MIDDLETON
Senior Lecturer, Department of Legal Studies,
University of Central Lancashire
Abstract: Beginning in 1988 government policy as regards incarceration of offenders appeared to
move away from custody towards punishment in the community. This piece of research examines
two community initiatives which purport to provide viable alternatives to custody which could be
utilised by the courts in place of a prison sentence. The work describes and compares a community
project based in Dumbarton, which is administered and partially financed by Save The Children
Fund in partnership with Strathclyde region social work department; with an initiative in
Middlesbrough which is administered by probation officers and forms part of the statutory
resource unit for the area of Cleveland. The paper examines the aims of such projects, the
programmes they have adopted and their outcomes. It is suggested that the Home Secretary
should reconsider such 'alternatives'.
With the publication of Punishment, Custody and the Community (Home Office
1988) it became evident that the government intended to control the
number of prison inmates through legislation which would make it harder
for the sentencers to impose a custodial sentence. The Criminal Justice
Act 1991 replaced 'alternatives to custody' with the concept of 'community
sentences', and sections 1 and 2 introduces criteria which must be met
before a custodial sentence can be awarded. The initial command papers
prior to the Bill being drafted (Home Office 1988, 1990) provide reasoned
arguments as to why community penalties are preferable to custody.
However, only months after implementation of the 1991 Act, the
government were forced to amend certain sections which they did by
inserting the changes into the 1993 Criminal Justice Act. One such
amendment was to section 29. The original drafting of this section
appeared to require the courts to disregard an offender's previous
convictions when passing sentence. Concern to this effect had been
expressed by the Magistrates' Association and some Lay magistrates had
resigned in protest. The 1993 Act repealed section 29 and a new, much
more loosely worded provision is substituted (Wasik and Taylor 1994).
The controversy surrounding the issue of sentencing, appears to have
caused the government to re-think their policy of community based
penalties. At the Conservative Party conference in 1993 the Home
Secretary, Michael Howard introduced a 27 point plan to combat crime.
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