All elements of the criminal justice system have to take their place in an attack coming from the right wing, which would, if followed to the letter of this book, very quickly fill our custodial establishments with individuals serving the maximum allowable sentence, some of which are criticised as being too short.  At the time of this review the prison population is something more than 77.000 and just marginally short of the absolute number that could be housed.  Goodness knows how many would be incarcerated if the thoughts expounded by the author were put into practice.  Even if such thoughts could be implemented, the pages fail to reflect the fact that so many inmates now languishing in jails should never be there in the first place. They come from an underclass, without education, are poorly housed and all too often have only one parent. It is little wonder that they quickly fall foul of the criminal law and whilst locking them up for lengthy periods might seem by some to be the solution, the fact remains that at some stage they have to be released to be more out of touch with society than when were sentenced.

The book on the outside is beautifully presented, but it is when one turns to the written words inside that in the reviewer's opinion it begins to fall down.  It lacks the professionalism associated with good quality editorship.  Upper and lower case letters are mixed up, figures instead of words are used for single digit numbers and names get varied. Examples of the latter include the Lord Chancellor named as Faulkner on page 42, and Martin Narey, who was at the time in charge of the prison service, becomes Martin Nearey on page 58.  The abbreviation etc., creeps in and phrases like 'if my memory serves me well' could have been omitted. To balance such criticisms out there are some good points in the book.  The poor vetting procedures that allowed the late Dr Shipman to kill so many elderly people when he had been convicted of drug misuse is an example.  The naming and shaming of recalcitrant juveniles is another matter that the author suggests should be used more and is a factor that those responsible for sentencing might heed more.  It seems quite wrong to the reviewer that young people can be named when being made the subject of an anti - social behaviour order but can gain anonymity if they breach same.

On the law side there are some things to which issue must be taken.  At page 135 murder is defined but still includes the point that death must follow within a year and a day, whereas in fact this mandatory interval was abolished by the Law Reform (Year and a Day Rule) Act 1996 and offenders are not, as stated on page 397, charged with being drunk and incapable, but merely being found drunk, contrary to the Licensing Act 1872, which provides no power of arrest for police officers.  Such an addition was subsequently added by virtue of the Licensing Act 1902. Section 1.

The reviewer found the layout of this book rather disjointed and although countless hours must have been spent documenting court proceedings culled from the tabloid newspapers, more work was needed to join the same issues together. The circumstances of the sad death of Jonathan Zito for instance are reported on page 401 without naming him, but just eight pages on, reference is made to the Zito Trust, established by his widow.

Although this is a book about the British Criminal Justice system, suddenly, a rather curious incident concerning an unpropitious remark made at a Royal Marine Association social function is inserted. Whatever the merits of the case, which was possibly the result of alcohol talking, it seemed to the reviewer, to be entirely out of place and would have been best excluded.

The gathering together of this copy has obviously taken much time and effort and has resulted in a hardback book which is far too long for the purpose intended. In the reviewer's opinion a much shorter paperback version presenting more balanced views would have sold more copies than this large volume. Indeed, there might well have been sufficient material for several such books. It is true that the author does suggest a number of recommendations as to how, in his view, the criminal justice might be improved but most concern custodial institutions and with the present numbers at the moment only a few hundred short of total overload, it is difficult to conceive how additional minimum sentences could be introduced. Economics would also have to be considered as well as exemption clauses for the inevitable special case.

Finally, for a book of such dimensions there is no index although a table of notes and sources, laid out by newspaper entry rather than subject, is provided, which will probably make it difficult for a reader to find what he is looking for.

Brian Rowland            1023/11/05     14th November 2005

Another Viewpoint (Second Review) David Pickover

Since the death penalty was abolished, offences of unlawful homicide have quadrupled and, in the past decade, violent offences have doubled. Many would identify a correlation between these disturbing facts and the constant liberalisation of penal measures designed to keep the prison population down.

There will be many police officers and, unquestionably, great swathes of the general public who perceive that the thinking of the legislature is seriously out of kilter with their understandable expectation that the law should afford them adequate protection and criminals should receive punishments that are commensurate with the gravity of their crimes.

Judgement impaired tackles these issues head-on and offers penetrating criticism of the piecrust promises of politicians and the ineffectiveness of the magistracy and judiciary in dispensing justice in a manner in which the punishment fits the crime and public expectations are satisfied.

The author of the work, a retired police officer, does not offer it as an academic treatise but as a factual work which examines numerous cases of homicide, rape, violence, robbery, dishonesty, damage and road traffic offences.