Suchergebnisse

In a combative review of recent conciliation literature, the author argues that the concept has been 'stolen' by court welfare practitioners to serve their professional biases. This distortion of conciliation both undermines its potential and can be damaging to consumers' interests.

A searching review of the recent Government report on Conciliation services, concludes that it is superficial, legalistic, and inadequately researched, with spurious reasoning and dubious conclusions.

In recent years the task of conciliation has gained favour among lawyers and probation officers. In a review of four approaches to conciliation the author both evaluates its successes and outlines the implications for practice and the organisation of the Probation Service.

It is a common perception that violent crime is on the increase and social surveys record a growing fear of victimisation among the public. Yet not all violence is criminalised, and much criminal violence still goes unreported. Punishing Violence examines the series of decisions - by victims, police officers, prosecutors and courts - which determine whether or not violent behaviour is criminalised. Antonia Cretney and Gwynn Davis examine the relationships underpinning violence, the reasons for violent acts and the factors militating against successful court prosecutions. In doing so, they prov

The attempted prosecution of domestic assault gives rise to considerable frustration within the ranks of the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), a frustration attributed to victims' tendency to withdraw their co‐operation with the prosecution effort. The authors report on an empirical investigation which, while it confirmed the high withdrawal rate, also identified routine charge reduction to s.39, trivialisation of the woman's experience in accounts of the violence presented to the court, and use of the conditional discharge as the preferred sentencing option. Despite an expressed willingness to take domestic violence seriously, police, CPS and courts still view these cases through the lens of 'the couple' or 'the family'. This is justified by the high rate of victim withdrawal, but equally it provides no encouragement to women to sustain their commitment to an arduous and possibly dangerous enterprise.

SUMMARY. One of the most powerful influences upon the practice of conciliation services is the mediators' wish to promote 'access' between children and the non‐custodial parent. The authors describe how practitioners at the Bromley Conciliation Bureau learned to qualify their enthusiasm for this objective

Abstract: 'Reparation' from offender to victim may take a variety of forms and can be promoted either as an alternative to or in conjunction with the operation of our criminal courts. Several Home Office sponsored experiments have been run. The authors, who hove been monitoring these and other initiatives, conclude that the scope for making amends ‐ and for viewing criminal justice in reparative terms ‐ is undermined through the current preoccupation with diverting the offender from prosecution, or mitigating the court's penalty.