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ceremony, as for instance a trial. Therefore, since crimin-
ality is a f undamen t al part of our community it should
be treated, not by isolating the offender from the com-
munity, but by treating him in the community. Thirdly,
our whole concept of criminality seems class based. O u r
prison population is derived almost entirely from the
group of underprivileged
in our
society.
This
does not, of course, mean
that
the
members
of so-called "working class" are more prone to
criminal behaviour than members of the middle classes.
T h e criminal code does, however, reflect the interests of
the middle classes if only because they have had the
power to impose their values and their view of norm-
ality on the whole society. Finally, when we realise that
the police, the legal profession and the courts are almost
entirely institutions of the middle classes, we can under-
stand why so ma ny of our prisoners come f r om the
working class. Fourthly, though it may be necessary to
prevent an offender injuring the community, we must
ensure, at the same time, that he should not be manipu-
lated to conform to the life style of others against his
will.
Offences to be treated within the community
It is, therefore, necessary that as ma ny offenders as
possible should be treated within the community. Only
those who have committed dangerous acts and are
likely to do so again should be imprisoned and only
then in the most h uma ne conditions. T h e aim of the
penal system must be to keep our prisons empty instead
of filling them to capacity. If such a suggestion was
followed only about 5 to 10 per cent of our prisoners
would remain imprisoned. T h e hope would be that in
future even those unfortunates could be treated in the
community. Furthermore, at the moment there are many
people behind bars who are only in prison on remand
awaiting trial. Over 2,000 prisoners were received on
remand in 1971—of these only 800 were later recom-
mitted.
The disadvantages of Bail
T h e law is that an alleged offender
must
be given
bail on certain conditions unless there is a high risk of
not attending the trial. T h e effect of this rule is often
nullified by the fact that the prisoner cannot afford bail
or cannot find sureties to go bail for him. Accordingly,
the
money-
bail
system should be abolished and instead
the judge should be given the power to attach penalties
for failure to reappear. It should also be possible to
devise a system that no prisoner should be kept in jail
while awaiting bail—as one American author has stated
" T h e indignities of regimental living, utter isolation
from the outside world, unsympathetic surveillance,
outrageous visitor facilities, are surely so searing that
one unwarranted day in jail in itself can be a ma j or
social injustice." If we based our criminal law on a
concept of h a rm done to others, such crimes as those
of drunkenness, vagrancy, soliciting, begging, homo-
sexuality between consenting adults, etc., should no
longer be treated as crimes. Prison certainly can-
not rehabilitate alcoholics or drug addicts and will often
have the exact reverse effect on homosexuals.
Alternatives to Prison
Th e re are many different ways of dealing with offen-
ders in the community—some of which have been tried
here and others which have not. T h e Radical Alter-
natives to Prison group (RAP) in England have pub-
lished a pamphlet listing twelve alternatives
including
projects such as '(1) non-residential education
centre
8
open to offenders and non-offenders alike, (2) the
creation of foster families and family groups for
lonely
offenders, (3) mixed community houses (such as the oH
e
operated by the Simon Community in Dublin), (4) &
education of young offenders schemes, (5) the provision
of proper treatment facilities in either homes or
resi-
dential communities for drug addicts and alcoholic
(6) the "new careers scheme" which has as its basi
8
the re-education of professional criminals and
finally
different types of offender-victim projects, and,
already
in use here (7) the Ga r da Juvenile Liaison System which
could be extended. It would, of course, be
obviously
better to prevent as many offenders as possible frofl
1
being processed by the courts and preventive
measure
8
such as crisis centres, counselling projects,
community
centres, youth clubs etc. could all have a part to
play
here. An informal process such as the
"Pre
-Courj
Dialogue Scheme" could adequately deal with
many
the petty problems that fill the courts at present.
Even
if the offender
does reach
the court stage, however,
are still left with the alternatives of the probation order»
the fine and the suspended sentence, all three of which
could be extended to work in conjunction with
^
other alternatives listed.
Probation
Probation has been defined by the Morrisson Cofl
1
'
mittee in England as : " The submission of an offender
while at liberty to a specified period of supervision by
a social caseworker who is an officer of the Court"'
during this period the offender remains liable if not
01
good conduct to be otherwise dealt with by the Court.
This sanction has, the Committee points out, the advan-
tage that while it seeks to protect society through *h
e
supervision to which the offender is required to subflUjj
it both minimises the restriction placed on him
offers him the help of society in adjusting his condu
ct
to its demands. The Judge can attach conditions to th
e
order and, therefore, like the suspended sentence it ha
5
the advantage that it can be adapted to the needs of th
e
individual offender. Secondly, it costs no more than £
a week to operate. It may surprise ma ny of you to kno^
that at the moment the probation order is only used
1,1
the District Courts—the reason being that there is
110
probation officer attached to the other courts.
Department of Justice has, however, stated it has i*
1
'
creased the number of welfare officers to sixty a
11
presumably some of these will act as probation officer
8
-
T h e VERA scheme which originated in New York
which can be used in conjunction with probation, ha
s
as its basic idea a three-month suspension of trial f°
r
certain offenders—if everything goes well in that thre
e
months the slate is wiped clean and the offender cai
1
make a fresh start. We could also introduce a system
volunteer probation counsellors as in Colorado—ead
1
offender could be assigned on probation to one of thes
e
'
This scheme would have the advantage of not onH
being inexpensive but also involving members of th
c
comunity in this type of work.
T h e fine is another form of non custodial treatm®
11
'
that could be extended. However, at present it op
er
'
ates against the interests of the poorer offender vvh0
often goes to jail because he is unable to pay it.
rectify this situation I would suggest that we
i n t r o d u C
e
the Swedish system of "day fines". This means that th*
fine is calculated not only according to the gravity
0
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