We live in a country where crime is falling.

Over the past ten years there has been a significant downturn in the overall level of crime — something which may come as a surprise when you consider the many sensational and disturbing crime stories in our daily newspapers. However, although overall crime is falling, there is a worrying increase in the level of certain offences. Street robbery, for example, has risen, with the rise in thefts of mobile phones resulting in young people being both victim and offender.

We also live in a country that has the highest level of imprisonment per head of population in the whole of Western Europe! In 1992 we had a prison population of approximately 42,000. Today it stands at over 70,000!

The last few years has seen a plethora of new Bills and Acts in the criminal justice arena and some significant advances in our treatment of both victims and offenders.

We have seen

• the creation of a new youth justice system
• the introduction of Home Detention Curfew (HDC), otherwise known as tagging
• the creation of a new National Probation Service
• the spread of restorative justice initiatives
• the greater use of the voluntary sector.

There has been a significant improvement in prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners. However we still live with a system that regularly imprisons the mentally ill, children, young mothers and people with substance misuse problems. We have undoubtedly come a long way, but there is still a long way to go.

For more information, Rethinking Crime and Punishment is a companion to this site. It offers a thorough overview of the key issues facing society, as well as examining many of the alternatives to prison which are available. It is currently under construction, but will shortly be on line.