The penalty of imprisonment

Product Description: It is Blom-Cooper's contention that Tony Blair and David Blunkett have had a disastrous effect on legal and penal reform in this country. He views their 'Tough on Crime and Tough on the Causes of Crime' slogan as a prelude to authoritarian regression and argues the Government is hell bent on building more and more prisons and condemning more and more convicted people to gaol sentences. Sir Louis' argument is that 60% of the prison population should not be there at all and it is notable that Jack Straw has felt able to write an introduction to this book. The argument begins from a historical point by asking what the purpose of imprisoning people originally was. Blom-Cooper also examines the philosophy of those two great Quaker reformers George Fox and Elizabeth Fry. He draws the reader's attention to the misuse of custody as the instinctive punishment for serious crime. The inexorable response of contemporary Britain in resorting to prison as the prime penal section is still morally and practically unsustainable. Restorative justice as a viable alternative method of dealing with some (if not the majority of offenders) is not sufficiently appreciated by politicia