Summary
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The article considers the situation which the Government’s reforms of sentencing and penal treatment had reached by the autumn of 2006, and the issues which are likely to arise as the changes take effect. It examines the underlying attitudes to the purpose and nature of punishment, and of criminal justice more generally; the implications for sentencing and the relationship between sentencers and those responsible for giving effect to the sentences imposed; and the prospects for the reforms’ success. It reviews the questions that arise from the evidence for ‘what works’, the ‘science’ of risk assessment and the Government’s plans for ‘contestability’ and the related issues of accountability and legitimacy. It concludes with some suggestions for themes that might be further developed and new themes that might be introduced.
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