Understanding Risk in Criminal Justice

Front Cover
McGraw-Hill Education (UK), Aug 16, 2003 - Law - 208 pages
“the Crime & Justice series has become a key resource for universities in teaching criminology and criminal justice… Professor Kemshall has established herself as a leading figure in the concepts of risk, risk management and public protection issues… an invaluable read for those entering Criminal Justice or moving to work in projects or teams at the forefront of public protection” Vista

  • How significant is risk to the formation and implementation of penal policy?
  • To what extent are the tasks and activities of frontline criminal justice workers informed by concerns to assess and manage risk?
  • Has there been a significant 'sea-change' in the delivery of criminal justice, and if so, what are the future implications of this?

This illuminating text examines the significance of the concept of risk in criminal justice policy, and in the role of criminal justice agencies and crime prevention initiatives. Particular features of the book include its use of practical examples, coverage of previously unpublished research, and a full review of current risk assessment tools for use with offenders. It is designed with undergraduate courses in mind, providing frequent summaries, lists of further reading, and a glossary.

The identification, assessment and management of risk has become a central theme of criminal justice policy. For some penal policy commentators this represents a 'sea-change' in crime management to a new era of 'actuarial justice', that is the management of crime opportunities and risk distribution rather than the management of individual offenders. By drawing on key areas of criminal justice practice such as policing, probation and crime prevention, this book examines the actual extent of this change and reviews the case for a new risk-based penology.

The book combines a review of current theories on actuarial justice with a detailed examination of current practices in key frontline agencies. The result is an essential text for criminology students and trainee professionals in criminal justice.

 

Contents

Introduction
1
Chapter 01 The rise of risk
3
Chapter 02 The role of risk in criminal justice and penal policy
26
Chapter 03 Approaches to risk and risk assessment tools
48
Chapter 04 Risk dangerousness and the Probation Service
81
Chapter 05 Risk and policing
103
Chapter 06 Risk and crime prevention
125
Chapter 07 Concluding comments
143
Glossary
147
References
149
Index
181
Back Cover
192
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Page x - All are major topics in university degree courses on crime and criminal justice, and each book should make an ideal foundation text for a relevant module. As an aid to understanding, clear summaries are provided at regular intervals, and a glossary of key terms and concepts is a feature of every book. In addition, to help students expand their knowledge, recommendations for further reading are given at the end of each chapter. Mike Maguire...
Page x - Other books previously published in the Crime and Justice series - all of whose titles begin with the word 'Understanding' - have covered criminological theory (Sandra Walklate), penal theory (Barbara Hudson), crime data and statistics (Clive Coleman and Jenny Moynihan), youth and crime (Sheila Brown), crime prevention (Gordon Hughes), violent crime (Stephen Jones), community penalties (Peter Raynor and Maurice Vanstone), white collar crime (Hazel Croall), risk and crime (Hazel Kemshall) and social...
Page ix - The series is now established as a key resource in universities teaching criminology or criminal justice, especially in the UK but increasingly also overseas. The aim from the outset has been to give undergraduates and graduates both a solid grounding in the relevant area and a taste to explore it further. Although aimed primarily at students new to the field, and written as far as possible in plain language, the books are not oversimplified. On the contrary, the authors set out to 'stretch' readers...

About the author (2003)

Hazel Kemshall is Professor of Community and Criminal Justice at De Montfort University. She has research interests in risk assessment, risk management and risk policies in criminal justice and has carried out research into risk under the Economic and Social Research Council's 'Risk and Human Behaviour' programme. She has investigated the work of public protection panels for the Home Office, and has developed training materials for the Probation Service in England and Wales, and for social workers in Scotland. She has published numerous books and articles on risk in social care and criminal justice.

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