NCJ Number
77193
Date Published
1981
Length
84 pages
Annotation
These Home Office research reports study persistent petty offenders in England as part of a larger effort to reduce prison overcrowding. The reports focus on the social disadvantages of persistent petty offenders, police interaction with them, and their sentencing.
Abstract
The study of social disadvantages experienced by petty offenders was confined to prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment and those committed in default of paying fines. Information was collected from records and through interviews with individual offenders. Results indicate that intervention, particularly in the case of older offenders, would have to be directed towards changing the system to make available alternative responses to offenders' behavior. For example, the petty offender's nuisance behavior could be tolerated or reacted to without the police having to make an arrest. In addition, police interaction with homeless petty offenders was studied in London and Brighton, with results suggesting that shelters should be established to house the homeless since many arrests of homeless persons appeared to have been made for the individuals' protection. Furthermore, magistrates' current practices in dealing with persistent petty offenders were examined through observations and a survey questionnaire. This study concludes that for alternative decisions to be made at the point of sentencing, support services for petty offenders must be improved and magistrates must adopt a more tolerant attitude and must trust the community's ability to cope with such offenders. Finally, a project designed to help homeless prisoners in Pentonville Prison find accommodations upon release is described, as is a program to help the socially isolated released prisoner in Leeds. Conclusions from these studies emphasize the difficulty of estimating the effect that shelters and similar facilities for petty offenders have on the prison population. However, the impact will probably not be sufficient to solve prison overcrowding. Additional remedies, such as shorter sentences, should be considered. Tabular data and footnotes accompany several of the studies. A list of Home Office publications and 10 references are appended.