Your Search Results

      • Offenders

        Making Good

        Prisons, Punishment and Beyond

        by Martin Wright (Author)

        A comprehensive and accessible overview of the Criminal Justice System, its framework, institutions, practitioners and working methods that will be of interest to any reader seeking an up-to-date description of this important and historic sphere of public life.

      • Offenders

        The Penal Crisis and the Clapham Omnibus

        Questions and Answers in Restorative Justice

        by David J. Cornwell (Author)

        What is restorative justice ... and does it work? These are just two of the many questions posed by David J Cornwell in this incisive work. Based on a lifetime of research and experience it deals with the concerns about crime and punishment of that most vivid of judicial creations, ‘The Man or Woman on the Clapham Omnibus’. As the author explains, this human reference point for reason and good sense is likely to be far more receptive to sound explanation and argument than the media (and tabloid press in particular) might give credit. And after all, it is his or her taxes which are being routinely wasted on outmoded or discredited methods. Crime will not disappear through the application of heavy-handed sanctions. Indeed, they make matters worse. With prisons overflowing in many western countries, restorative justice offers a better and ultimately more intuitive solution. Cornwell dismantles the traditional arguments for ‘locking people away’ and undermines the idea that it is necessary to be ‘tough on crime’. The book credits people with a higher level of intelligence. It provides them with proper answers and explanations based on sound data, copious research and an in-depth analysis of existing trends. It is a work for people who value credibility rather than politically-driven excuses with their increasingly damaging effects.

      • Offenders

        Dovegate

        A Therapeutic Community in a Private Prison and Developments in Therapeutic Work with Personality Disordered Offenders

        by Eric Cullen (Author), Judith Mackenzie (Author)

        The only book on Dovegate Therapeutic Community; Contains first-hand insider accounts by staff and inmates; Describes the latest developments in TC work; Provides extensive data and references. A closely observed account of the UK’s first private sector prison-based Therapeutic Community (TC)—a 200-bed facility. The book considers: the background to and regimes at Dovegate; modern developments in TC work with (often high-risk) offenders; the differences between Dovegate, Grendon and other UK prison-based TCs; private and public sector imperatives; democratic and hierarchical TCs; reparative, restorative and punitive approaches; accreditation, group work, assessment, suitability and de-selection TC-culture versus prison culture the role of positive attitudes, relationships and experiences; psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, security and control; how TCs alter behaviour and prevent crime. Reviews 'A timely addition to the growing literature about therapeutic communities (TC) operating within British prisons. Written by two 'insiders', the book charts the History and development of the TC at the privately run HMP Dovegate, but does not shirk from investigating the pros and cons of operating within an environment that seeks to make a profit. Written in clear and accessible prose, the book also usefully includes the voices of residents located at Dovegate, a chapter on the History of TCs in British prisons, and concludes with an optimistic look at the future of TCs within the penal system. At a time of our highest ever prison population let's hope that Dovegate makes it onto the reading list of [the justice minister]': Professor David Wilson, Centre for Applied Criminology, Birmingham City University ‘I am affected, warmed and humbled, urging you to read this book. It’s a real experience’: Dr Barbara Rawlings (from the Foreword).

      • Fiction
        February 2014

        The Boy and The Crow

        by Brendan Walsh

        The Boy and the Crow is the gripping, fast-paced story of 16-year-old big city gang member, Daniel Cagney. Convicted of a crime in juvenile court, he is sentenced to spend a year’s probation on the Vermont farm of his grandparents, whom he has not seen for many years. From the moment he arrives at the farm, Danny struggles to adjust to his new life on foreign turf. He continues to believe that it is only a matter of time before he escapes to the city, but a young crow, which he almost kills one day, “conspires” to change his mind. Under his grandparents’ watchful eyes, Danny begins to resist the pull of the ghetto that he has left behind. He meets a beautiful girl who accepts him for who he is, but her zealous father wants him out of his daughter’s life for good. To make matters worse, Danny soon becomes the target of local bullies and the county sheriff. Then, his fellow gang members come calling.

      • Offenders

        Wanted!

        by Bob Turney (Author)

        Tells of how the author went from being wanted by the police and criminal underworld to being wanted for himself. This is a story of his journey from prisoner to upstanding citizen, husband, father, probation officer, author and broadcaster - told with insight and deep concern for victims of crime in particular.

      • Offenders

        Restoring Respect for Justice

        A Symposium

        by Martin Wright (Author)

        Challenges many 'sacred cows' of crime and punishment by focusing on the effect on the people who suffer directly, the victims. This book points to the dangers of a punitive mindset and reflects on the arguments and data in favour of an effective, inclusionary, community-based response to crime.

      • Juvenile offenders

        Growing Out of Crime

        The New Era

        by Andrew Rutherford (Author)

        Explores juvenile offenders within the criminal justice climate and amongst changes in the way young people are dealt with by courts, police and youth offending teams. This book includes arguments about managing offending behaviour.

      • Fiction

        Red Flag Warning

        A Serial Arson Mystery

        by Kurt Kamm

        Los Angeles County is burning. A serial arsonist is setting the parched hills on fire. Plunge into infernos and face the smoke, heat and danger with the men on the fire lines. While NiteHeat prowls in the darkness, setting fires and taunting investigators, the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Arson Unit struggles to find the fire-setter and stop the devastation. Who is NiteHeat? Is it Ruffy, the 911 dispatcher who has failed firefighter training? Is it Mikey, a dropout who appears at every fire and steals firefighting equipment? Is it Father Dom who claims the fires are started by Satan? Discover the incendiary device triggered by a cooking timer from Williams Sonoma. Did you ever wonder how wildland arson investigators find the point of origin and evidence in a fire which consumes thousands of acres? Did you ever wonder what goes through the mind of an arsonist? Read RED FLAG WARNING.

      • Rehabilitation of offenders

        I'm Still Standing

        by Bob Turney (Author)

        Bob Turney gave up crime to study for a degree at Reading University and was rehabilitating himself by way of voluntary work. Three years on, Bob is a probation officer working in a Youth Justice Team. This book charts his progress from down-and-out 'ex-con' to a respected citizen in his life story up until 1997.

      • Offenders

        Geese Theatre Handbook

        Drama with Offenders and People at Risk

        by Clarke Baim (Author), Sally Brookes (Author)

        Geese Theatre 1st was formed in 1987 and is renowned across the criminal justice field. This book explains the thinking behind the company's approach to applied drama with offenders and people at risk of offending, including young people. It also contains over 100 exercises with explanations, instructions and suggestions to help practitioners.

      • Offenders

        Murder On File

        The World's Most Notorious Killers

        by Richard Whittington-Egan

      • Offenders

        The Longest Injustice

        The Strange Story of Alex Alexandrowicz

        by Alex Alexandrowicz (Author), David Wilson (Author)

        Alex Alexandrowicz spent 22 years in custody protesting his innocence. This book explains how something which began with a plea bargain in the belief that he would serve a 'short' sentence turned into a Kafkaesque nightmare. His 'Prison Chronicles' are placed in perspective by Professor David Wilson. The Longest Injustice contains the full story of Anthony Alexandrovich - known universally as 'Alex'. Principally, the book is about his 29-year fight against his conviction as a seventeen-year-old for aggravated burglary, wounding with intent, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Twenty-two of these years were spent in prison where Alex was a discretionary life sentenced prisoner, and where he steadfastly maintained his innocence. He continues to do so after release, and is taking his case through the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which was set up in 1995 to investigate alleged miscarriages of justice. Alex's own recollections are supplemented by analysis of the dilemma facing people in British prisons who are determined to maintain their innocence, and the book highlights the considerable disincentives and disadvantages to them of doing so. Authors Alex Alexandrowicz spent 22 years in some of Britain's most notorious gaols much of this time as a Category A high security prisoner. His Prison Chronicles are a first hand account in which he explains why he believes he was wrongly convicted (a matter currently with the Criminal Cases Review Commission) and vividly recreates his experiences of the early years following his arrest. Institutionalised by the system and apprehensive of the outside world he now lives alone in Milton Keynes where he continues the long fight to clear his name from a flat which has grown to resemble a prison cell. David Wilson is professor of criminology at the Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research at the University of Central England in Birmingham. A former prison governor, he is editor of the Howard Journal and a well-known author, broadcaster and presenter for TV and radio, including for the BBC, C4 and Sky Television. He has written three other books for Waterside Press: Prison(er) Education: Stories of Change and Transformation (with Ann Reuss) (2000) , Images of Incarceration: Representations of Prison in Film and Television Drama (with Sean O'Sullivan) (2004), and Serial Killers: Hunting Britons and Their Victims (2007).

      • Offenders

        Magic Bracelet

        Technology and Offender Supervision

        by Dick Whitfield (Author)

        The availability of satellite tracking and voice verification systems means that various options as technology is used to supervise offenders. But how effective is it? This book looks at the different ways in which technology is being used and the lessons for criminal justice policy.

      • Offenders

        Because I Have Been Given Much

        A Story of Hope

        by Bob Turney (Author)

        Bob Turney was raised on a notorious housing estate in South London, England. At age 15 he was consigned to the scrap heap by an education system that labelled him 'educationally subnormal'. Engulfed by a life of crime from an early age, he graduated to the fringes of organized crime and spent over 20 years drifting in and out of prisons.

      • Juvenile offenders

        Why Did You Do It?

        Explanations for Offending by Young Offenders in Their Own Words

        by Jackie Worrall (Author)

        Real life stories with expert analysis; Case studies and comment; Provides a valuable perspective on youth offending; Contains key messages about youth crime. The voices of young offenders—the real life stories behind the worrying and sometimes tragic lives of those who get into trouble with the Law. Setting these within the context of descriptions of youth justice policy, Jackie Worrall conveys to her readers an understanding of how and why young people become offenders going far beyond that to be gleaned from everyday rhetoric and theory. Why Did You Do It? contains raw, first-hand accounts of young people involved in crime. These stories cast a different light on youth offending to that so often portrayed by the media, making this new and insightful work a valuable resource for anyone trying to grasp the social, penal or criminological implications of youth crime. What are the traps that can ensnare young people as they grow up and the triggers which can so easily see them onto the wrong side of the tracks? In Why Did You Do It? Jackie Worrall sets out their explanations, examines a critical phase in their lives and dissects the political mantra, over-tidy solutions and off-the-cuff responses.

      • Juvenile offenders

        The Lost Boyz

        A Dark Side of Graffiti

        by Justin Rollins (Author)

        A rare first-hand account of disaffected youth. Contains countless lessons for young people who might be attracted to crime (and anyone involved with them socially or professionally). Aged just fourteen and using the name ‘Sevens’, the author went from being a bullied child to leader of the Warriorz, a group of London street kids involved in graffiti-tagging and other crimes including a series of violent encounters. Eventually given a substantial custodial sentence for an attack with a meat cleaver on the London Underground, Justin Rollins became determined to steer other young people away from such a life. The Lost Boyz tells the story of his descent into a form of madness in which self-destruction, anger, wanton behaviour and fear lie at the core. Not before has a book taken the reader so far inside the minds of troubled youths as the author and his companions—some of whom did not survive or also ended up in prison—gradually realise that there is no easy escape from their chaotic lifestyle. Their need to gain respect from and stay credible with each other stems from offending, alienation, living on the margins of society and crazy behaviour—all of which serve as barriers to rejoining the normal world and going straight. The book contains countless lessons for young people who might be attracted to crime just as it does for anyone interested in youth offending, gang culture, criminology, mental health issues or that period of modern English social History when the unofficial decoration of walls, fences, trains and buses became a telling symbol of disaffected youth.

      • Rehabilitation of offenders

        Behind the Lines

        Creative Writing with Offenders and People at Risk

        by Michael Crowley (Author), Lord Ramsbotham (Foreword writer)

        A book for anyone concerned about the level of literacy amongst prisoners. Behind The Lines is the product of some 15 years of working with offenders and people at risk in prison and in the community. It is based on the author’s extensive experience of using creative writing to change and improve thinking and behaviour to prevent crime. It includes: Easy to read explanations of the method; Dozens of practical exercises and ideas for discussion; Advice about the different approaches; Samples of writing by offenders, inside and outside of prison; The author’s views about what works to engage and encourage (often) wary participants. Behind the Lines represents a major contribution to rehabilitative work (in one sense it is the prison-writing equivalent of the highly successful Waterside Press publication, The Geese Theatre Handbook). A Key Resource For: Writers in residence; Offending behaviour group workers; Youth workers; Youth offending teams; Community workers; Psychotherapists, therapists and counsellors; Special needs workers and teachers; Anyone tackling literacy levels of risk groups... and people training or studying in these and related fields.

      Subscribe to our

      newsletter