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Summary

Nellis, Mike (2000). "Community penalties in historical perspective." In Community penalties: Change and challenges, eds. Anthony Bottoms, Loraine Gelsthorpe, and Sue Rex, 16-40. Cambridge Criminal Justice Series. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing.

In this chapter, Nellis surveys the history of community penalties in England and Wales. Starting with a discussion of the concept of community penalties, he reviews the periods 1948 to 1978 and then 1978 to 1997 in the development of community penalty practices (e.g., probation and community service orders). The divide between the periods is marked by the growth of official penal policy in the late 1970s to reduce the prison population. His examination of the overall time frame points to government reports, legislation, administrative initiatives, and the work of academic criminologists and penal reformers in exploring and fostering the application of community penalties (as well as factors inhibiting community penalties). Nellis concludes with observations on salient characteristics of the current situation with respect to community penalties.

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