NCJ Number
100683
Editor(s)
R W Rideout,
J Dyson
Date Published
1983
Length
276 pages
Annotation
This critique of the British Working Party paper on ''Dangerousness and Criminal Justice' considers the justification for general penal policy, the identification of the ''dangerous' offender, and justification for the differential treatment of ''dangerous' offenders.
Abstract
The Working Party did not sufficiently consider the justification for the state's punishment of offenders. The Working Party should have critiqued the punishment principles implicit in the existing sentencing system, with particular attention to the use of preventive detention under just deserts theory. The report might also have drawn on Hart's distinction between principles of punishment distribution and the general justifying aim of punishment. The report is concerned to do justice in identifying ''dangerous' offenders, but this goal is hampered by insufficient accuracy in predicting criminality. The report is generally too optimistic about the possibility of increasing prediction accuracy. The report justifies preventive detention, assuming ''dangerous' offenders can be accurately identified, on the basis of the offender's intention to reoffend. The report, however, fails to resolve satisfactorily the conflict between principles of protection and proportionality. 70 notes.