Smith and Hogan's Criminal Law D. Ormerod. Oxford University Press (2011) 1172pp. £34.99pb ISBN...

Book Reviews

Probation and Social Work on Trial: Violent Offenders and Child Abusers W. Fitzgibbon.Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (2011) 200pp. £55.00hb ISBN 978-0-230-27537-9

At the heart of this original and thought-provoking book is the challenging question ofwhether social workers and probation officers make mistakes that have catastrophicconsequences (as in the Baby Peter and Dano Sonnex cases):

because the existing procedures are too lax or not comprehensively enforced . . . or whether in factit is the procedures themselves that make it more likely that mistakes will happen because of the waythey constrain practitioners to act. (p.113)

Based on documentary analysis, supplemented by 16 practitioner interviews, WendyFitzgibbon dissects four landmark cases of so-called ‘preventable’ deaths spanning 40years of social work and probation: Maria Colwell (killed by her stepfather, WilliamKepple); Graham Young (multiple poisoner); Peter Connelly (killed by his mother’spartner, Steven Barker); and Dano Sonnex (co-killer of French students, Gabriel Ferezand Laurent Bonomo). What interests Fitzgibbon is not so much the details of thecrimes, though these are meticulously recounted, as the public, media, professional andpolitical reactions to them and, in particular, reactions to the social workers and proba-tion officers who were ‘meant’ to prevent them.

All four cases were known to the relevant authorities and were under some form ofsupervision at the time of the crimes. But reactions to the two cases that occurred in the1970s were very different from reactions to those in the first decade of the 21st Century.Superficially, this is not a surprising finding and there is a temptation to say ‘so what?’Every aspect of society was different in the 1970s. But Fitzgibbon wins the reader overby her detailed and assertive analysis of exactly how and why things have changed – infamilies and communities, in the media, in politics and in the professions of social workand probation.

Comparisons are made, not only about changes in the social and political contexts ofthese cases but also about the changes within the professions of social work and proba-tion. It is here that I part company a little with Fitzgibbon’s analysis. The inquiry into thedeath of Maria Colwell is widely regarded as having marked the commencement of theconcept of ‘child protection’ and the depressing sequence of inquiries into the deaths ofchildren at the hands of their carers – Jasmine Beckford and Tyra Henry in the 1980sthrough to Victoria Climbie and Peter Connelly in the past decade. It is possible, I think,to argue that these cases have more similarities than differences. By contrast, as Fitzgib-bon insightfully demonstrates, the position of Graham Young’s probation officer was aworld away from that of David Scott in the Dano Sonnex case. In the former, there wasa presumption of confidentiality and a belief in Young’s ‘right’ to start afresh after aprison sentence that even the most liberal of probation officers today would find difficultto credit or justify.

Fitzgibbon concludes that there are three broad reasons for practitioner errors.The first is obvious, though not undisputed – overwork and lack of time to get to know

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The Howard Journal Vol 51 No 3. July 2012 DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2311.2012.00720.xISSN 0265-5527, pp. 336–343

336© 2012 The AuthorsThe Howard Journal of Criminal Justice © 2012 The Howard League and Blackwell Publishing LtdPublished by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK

individuals sufficiently well to spot the warning signs, lack of experience, lack ofsupport and a culture that values procedures over relationships. The second is the myththat technology saves time. Fitzgibbon argues that technology often increases the pres-sure to produce more (but not necessarily more valuable) information and distractspractitioners from face-to-face contact. The third is the myth that inter-agency sharingof information will prevent errors. This is only the case if the quality of the informationshared is high. All too often, Fitzgibbon argues, it is not. Nor are these organisationaland professional failings likely to be remedied by current government policies andpriorities.

Fitzgibbon’s written style is succinct and compelling. Despite the darkness of thesubject matter, this is a very good read. Her analysis is also extremely insightful at times.It should be required reading for anyone who suspects that the current tick-box culturesin social work and probation do not, and cannot, protect the most vulnerable or reformthe most dangerous. This book will give them ammunition to argue for change.

ANNE WORRALLEmerita Professor of Criminology,Keele University,and Honorary Professorial Fellow,University of Western Australia.

Probation: Working with Offenders R. Canton. Abingdon: Routledge (2011) 263pp.£24.99pb ISBN 978-1-84392-373-2

The risk with writing a book about the work of the probation service is that it will appealonly to a small readership – typically trainees and former probation officers now workingin academia. With the recent changes in training, there are now fewer of the formergroup and most employed probation workers are probably too overworked for suchreading. Criminologists are, by and large, not interested in this area of work, believingit to be too specialised and requiring too much ‘inside’ technical knowledge (under-standing the offender assessment system (OASys) is rather akin to understanding the‘off-side’ rule in football) to engage with. It is also the poor and unglamorous relationwhen set alongside prisons and the police.

That being said, if there is a book that might persuade the average criminologist orcriminology student that probation is a crucible for all the tensions and conflicts inherentin the criminal justice system, then this is it. Rob Canton combines a comprehensiveknowledge of the practice of probation with a much broader discussion of the philoso-phies of criminal justice policy and, in particular, the need for an ethical approach todealing with offenders in the community.

There are now several good histories of probation around and it is difficult to saymuch that is new on this topic. But Canton manages to adopt an original approach bycharting the history of the work, not chronologically, but in terms of a series of contra-dictions: local versus national; judicial versus executive; social versus psychological; careversus control; individuals versus families and so on. He also demonstrates how broadermodels of criminal justice (expressive, bureaucratic and power) can be applied to workwith offenders in the community.

In the middle of the book are several chapters that deal in detail with the routinework of probation – supervision, community service, work in prison. They may appearat first glance to be ‘technical’ but they are very clearly written, answer the question ‘whatdo probation officers actually do?’ and, at the same time, explain why they do it (forexample, why securing compliance requires more than technical enforcement proce-

The Howard Journal Vol 51 No 3. July 2012ISSN 0265-5527, pp. 336–343

337© 2012 The Authors

The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice © 2012 The Howard League and Blackwell Publishing Ltd

dures), what principles underpin their work and what problems they encounter.The book contains the clearest exposition of the strengths and limitations of the OASysrisk assessment tool that I have read.

The book then proceeds to discuss how probation contributes to, or places obstaclesin the way of, desistance, before exploring the work of probation with victims and thecontroversial argument that many offenders are also victims. The case study of ‘Dennisand Shaun’, drawn from the author’s own experience as a probation officer, nicelyillustrates the inappropriateness of assigning the ‘offender’ and ‘victim’ role too readily.Two further chapters address the local/national governance dichotomy and explain whoprobation staff are – including debates around training, roles, accountability and pro-fessional discretion. The confusing and controversial role boundaries between probationofficers and probation service officers (who he describes as ‘paraprofessionals’) are notonly explained, but questioned. The final chapter looks at international perspectiveson probation.

Canton writes exceptionally clearly and makes complicated ideas accessible. Forthis reason, Probation: Working with Offenders can be described as a textbook, withreview questions, further reading and information boxes in every chapter, but it ismore than a neutral introduction to the subject. It is opinionated and develops anargument. It invites the reader to think differently about punishment and reminds usof Andrew Rutherford’s (1993) plea for ‘decency’ in criminal justice. The simple, yetprofound, argument of the book is that probation should not be regarded as a ‘thing’but as a set of ideas and possibilities – a broad theoretical framework within whichlocal solutions to local problems can be found. Probation is not just one small cornerof a large system – it is a particular strategy without which the system would be verymuch the poorer.

Reference

Rutherford, A. (1993) Criminal Justice and the Pursuit of Decency, Oxford: Oxford Univer-sity Press.

ANNE WORRALLEmerita Professor of Criminology,Keele University,and Honorary Professorial Fellow,University of Western Australia.

Smith and Hogan’s Criminal Law D. Ormerod. Oxford University Press (2011) 1172pp.£34.99pb ISBN 978-0-19-958649-3

Smith and Hogan has claimed primacy amongst doctrinal textbooks on criminal law foralmost 47 years, at least since Sir John Smith and Brian Hogan wrote in the 1965 firstedition that it represented ‘a completely fresh start’ on the previous leading work,Kenny’s Outlines of Criminal Law. Entering its 13th edition, the volume is edited byProfessor David Ormerod, a law commissioner, practising barrister and academic, whoseseries of ‘Recent Developments . . .’ lectures are well known amongst criminal lawyers.

The work deliberately excludes issues of evidence and procedure and is of most useas a source of clearly-stated substantive criminal law. Practitioners who use Smith andHogan in court may differ in their enthusiasm for the extent of the academic commen-tary and discussions of reform that are found throughout the text, a product of ProfessorOrmerod’s intention to make the book readable and accessible to all users, including lawstudents.


338© 2012 The AuthorsThe Howard Journal of Criminal Justice © 2012 The Howard League and Blackwell Publishing Ltd

A logical structure deals with the general principles and elements of criminalitybefore turning to consider individual offences. Important updates in this edition includesections on the new partial defences to murder, of loss of self-control and diminishedresponsibility; the new offences of extreme pornography; the position in relation toassisted suicide following the guidance from the Director of Public Prosecutions (KeirStarmer QC) after Purdy; and the line of recent case law on joint enterprise, includingRahman and Gnango.

Professor Ormerod’s style is clear and engaging, if not sometimes a little academic.Formulations such as: ‘In principled terms this approach is problematical’ (p.315) couldbe simplified to suit the needs of practitioners searching for a basic expression of the lawto convey to clients.

The reign of Smith and Hogan as the leading textbook in its field has led to itsfrequent citation by the courts. The second edition was relied upon in the 1972 case ofSummers, where the Court of Appeal expressly approved of its definition of thecommon-law offence of affray. Since that date, Smith and Hogan appeared regularly injudgments of the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords and continues to do so.Indeed, since its release in mid-2011, the 13th edition has been cited by the Court ofAppeal on four occasions.

The law is stated as of 31 March 2011 and as with previous editions, an open accesswebsite provides annual case updates, a bibliography, and an additional chapter cover-ing the offence of forgery. Joining a number of leading textbooks, Smith and Hogan canalso be downloaded as a Kindle e-book.

THOMAS HAMILTONLLM Student,Faculty of Law,University of Cambridge.

Dovegate: A Therapeutic Community in a Private Prison and Developments in Therapeutic Workwith Personality Disordered Offenders E. Cullen and J. Mackenzie. Hook: Waterside Press(2011) 316pp. £22.95pb ISBN 978-1-904-38054-2

A book seeking to explain and clarify the significant contribution that therapeuticcommunities can make in changing the lives of those who have committed seriousoffences ought to be one that is welcomed by penal reformers and by all those who havea fundamental belief that prisons should be humane and decent, staffed by those whodemonstrate actively pro-social behaviours and who engage constructively and positivelywith prisoners. This is especially important given that the concept of a therapeuticcommunity is often misunderstood, perceived by some to be rooted in questionablepractices linked with unboundaried 1960s encounter groups where free expressionpredominated over evidence-based psychological techniques – the latter being wheretherapeutic communities are currently situated. Possible dubious past treatment regimesare now judged as both unprofessional and indefensible. Therapeutic communitiestoday have a common set of standards and an accreditation process validated by theRoyal College of Psychiatrists Centre for Quality Improvement and developed by theCommunity of Communities, an organisation which seeks to encourage and supporttherapeutic communities in the UK and overseas to meet the highest standards oftherapeutic community practice through a process of self- and peer-review.

It is, therefore, disappointing that Cullen and MacKenzie’s book describing thesetting up and operation of a 200-bedded therapeutic community facility within HMPDovegate, a private sector Category B establishment which presently has responsibilityfor over 1,000 adult male prisoners, has failed to reach the standards expected of such




a publication, lacking the depth, independence and academic rigour of Genders andPlayer’s (1995) excellent ethnographic study of HMP Grendon, the UK’s only totallytherapeutic community prison. Indeed, in a publication which has Dovegate at its centre,I am bemused by the inaccurate and unsubstantiated criticisms on Grendon (pp.37, 64,66, 72, 265) when a much more balanced appraisal of Grendon’s performance over thepast ten years, detailing its significant strengths and some deficit areas, has been given infour recent reports from HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2004, 2006, 2009, 2011). Moregenerally, the review required further attention to detail, including the spelling ofnames.

Where this book does succeed (and where, in my view, it should have stayed focused)is in the offering of personal accounts from those most closely involved in the biddingprocess for Dovegate, bringing into being Dovegate’s four therapeutic communities andthen the dilemmas involved in managing therapeutic communities within a custodialsetting. So, described are the personal dramas between the key participants, includingdisagreements of how staff working in prison therapeutic communities should bemanaged and supported; alongside the politics of working for a custodial private sectorcompany and seeking to ensure that the integrity of the therapeutic work is not com-promised, especially given the cost pressures, constraints and priorities of non-Stateprisons.

The book’s opening chapter sets out the bidding process for, and the philosophy andprinciples of, HMP Dovegate, prior to a consideration of, in the following chapter, thepolitics of privatisation. A brief history of therapeutic communities and prison thera-peutic communities is given in Chapter 3.

It is in Chapter 4 where a more detailed account of Dovegate’s opening, first monthsof operation and initial conflicts is given, with subsections on staff training, the supportteam and the role of the lead consultant (Eric Cullen). Roland Woodward, as Dovegate’sfirst director of therapy, contributes the next chapter, with the second part of theheading, ‘the search engine for meaning’, accurately reflecting the struggles he facedand the context for his contribution to Dovegate’s therapeutic communities reaching thestage where they could be accredited by the National Offender Management Service(NOMS) Correctional Services Accreditation Panel.

Tales, of mixed interest and quality, from staff and residents, precede Judy MacKen-zie’s chapter highlighting inherent difficulties and conflicts in the management of prisontherapeutic communities. There is then an assessment of the contribution of the first twodirectors of therapy and the subsequent director of the therapeutic prison. This laterchange occurred when an operational manager was appointed as the lead manager andthe role no longer assumed clinical responsibility for the therapeutic work undertakenwithin each of the wings/communities. The final two chapters in this book again focus onwider issues – effectiveness and quality control and the future of prison therapeuticcommunities.

In summary, this book provides an interesting account of the history and operationalenvironment of Dovegate’s therapeutic communities, though with some shortcomingswhen the scope of the writing moves beyond this.

References

Genders, E. and Player, E. (1995) Grendon: A Study of a Therapeutic Prison, Oxford:Oxford University Press.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2004) Report on a Full Announced Inspection of HM PrisonGrendon 1–5 March 2004, London: HM Inspectorate of Prisons.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2006) Report on an Unannounced Short Follow-upInspection of HMP Grendon 31 October–2 November 2006, London: HM Inspectorate ofPrisons.



HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2009) Report on an Announced Inspection of HMP Grendon2–6 March 2009, London: HM Inspectorate of Prisons.

HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (2011) Report on an Unannounced Short Follow-up Inspectionof HMP Grendon 15–17 August 2011, London: HM Inspectorate of Prisons.

MICHAEL BROOKESDirector of Therapeutic Communities,HMP Grendon,and Visiting Professor,Birmingham City University.

Female Sexual Offenders: Theory, Assessment and Treatment T.A. Gannon and F. Cortoni (Eds.).Chichester: Wiley (2010) 220pp. £29.99pb ISBN 978-0-470-68343-9

It is only recently that any attention has been paid to females who commit sex offences,and knowledge of this population is limited. This edited book provides a snapshot of thecurrent literature and would be useful to clinicians and researchers interested in thispopulation.

Saradjian’s chapter provides a review of prevalence rates which, across studies, is4%–5% and outlines many of the factors that may impact the accuracy of these rates. Invictimisation studies it is of interest that male victims report more often being abused byfemales than do female victims. This chapter also reviews victim impact. Some of thestatements made, such as: ‘For victims of female sexual abusers, the trauma will begreater as it is so unexpected that women will behave in this way’ (p.21) seem to gobeyond the data. Many of the studies and case examples presented are related to abuseby mother figures, which may have a very different impact than when the victim is anadolescent male and the offender is an adult female.

Chapter 3 by Harris focuses on theories of female sex offending. It provides anoverview of clinical typologies, single factor theories such as victimisation and a review ofthe more complex ‘Descriptive Model of Female Sex Offending’ developed by TheresaGannon. Harris, drawing from the feminist criminological literature, suggests power-lessness as a possible theoretical explanation for female sex offending; although pagelimitations may not have allowed her to fully develop the concept.

Frey provides a helpful overview of what we know about juvenile female sex offendersin her chapter. The Rousseau and Cortoni chapter on mental health issues highlightssome of the problems in the overall literature on female sex offenders. Highly selectedsamples, lack of standardised assessment and not having adequate control groups cangive a distorted view of the prevalence of mental health issues in this population.Regardless of the actual prevalence it is clear, that like general offenders, female sexoffenders have experienced significant victimisation.

Cortoni’s chapter on assessment provides practical information for clinicians. Thereis also a review of Cortoni and associates’ recidivism meta-analysis suggesting low(2%–3%) sexual recidivism in this population. Risk assessment instruments validated onfemales do not exist. Cortoni outlines what factors may be similar to those for men andwhat may be different. They stress the need to assess general criminogenic risk factors;but do not discuss controversy regarding gender-neutral versus gender-informed riskfactors in the prediction of general offending. The chapter by Heil and colleaguessuggests that female offenders, like male offenders, report more extensive histories ofoffending after being polygraphed. They also present data that after polygraphs, somewomen who are identified as offending with a male also report solo offending. Althoughpresenting some interesting data, there is no acknowledgement of research that ques-tions the validity of polygraph testing.




Three of the chapters focus on treatment-related issues: Chapter 7 by Ford, ontreatment needs; Chapter 8, a review of treatment initiatives by Blanchette and Taylor;and Chapter 10 on therapeutic process issues by Ashfield and colleagues. All the chap-ters stress the need for treatment to be gender informed and the need for the field to notautomatically apply what we know about female offenders to male offenders, which is atheme throughout this book. However, from the literature and programmes reviewed,this is more an aspirational goal than what the field has achieved. The chapter byAshfield and colleagues stresses the importance of the therapeutic relationship in treat-ing this population. It goes beyond identifying specific dynamic risk factors and identi-fies issues specific to women, such as trauma, relationships, children and the difficultiesof community integration.

The final chapter by Gannon, Rose and Cortoni focuses on future directions. Thisincludes more theoretically-driven studies, development of female-specific assessmentinstruments and studies with adequate control groups.

In summary, although in any edited book one can probably find areas to critique, theoverall book is valuable for those working in this field and provides a good introductionto what we know at this time.

WILLIAM D. MURPHYProfessor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry,University of Tennessee – Health Science Center,Memphis, TN.,USA.

Penal Exceptionalism? Nordic Prison Policy and Practice T. Ugelvik and J. Dullum (Eds.).London: Routledge (2012) 266pp. £85.00hb ISBN 978-0-415-66869-9 £26.99pb ISBN978-0-415-67295-5

This edited volume is the product of a conference held in Oslo, organised by theScandinavian Studies of Confinement research network, which explored the tensionsbetween ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ in the context of Nordic penal culture. In particular,this book is a sophisticated response to John Pratt’s (2008a, 2008b) thesis of Scandina-via’s penal exceptionalism. Exceptionalism here refers to low imprisonment rates andrelatively humane prison conditions. According to Thomas Mathiesen (Chapter 2), Pratthas overlooked ‘a very significant context of hardship and pain that has existed andcontinues to exist in Scandinavian prisons’ (p.28). Part of this book, then, is a rebuttaland further exploration of the thesis that Nordic countries are exceptional in theirprison policy. The content of the book is diverse – with contributions of 18 authors to 13chapters – but highlights some important points, and is a valuable contribution tocomparative criminology.

In Chapter 3, Peter Scharff Smith argues that the Nordic countries have not evadedthe wave of penal populism, which has washed over the western world. He is critical ofthe punitive tradition of pre-trial solitary confinement, which is still used in Scandina-vian countries. Nonetheless, the image of the Nordic countries as exceptional is notwithout grounds. In Chapter 4, David Green explains why these countries may still berelatively immune to the harsh penal climate seen elsewhere. In particular, he elaborateson the consensus democracy (that is, ‘proportional representation and multiparty,power-sharing systems’ (p.70)), and the media climate, which is characterised by higherquality and less sensational reporting of crime.

While one may be inclined to praise the egalitarian Nordic culture, Thomas Ugelvikcaptivatingly discusses the potential downsides of a society that greatly values equality(‘likhet’) in Chapter 7. He uses examples from his fieldwork in Norway to illustrate how



some prisoners may be Norwegian citizens, but not feel part of Norwegian society,because they are somehow different (‘ulike’). The limits of humanitarian values inNorway are reflected in Ugelvik’s description of his compatriots as ‘cold, introvert andselfish’ (p.134).

The book not only makes a valuable contribution to comparative criminology interms of content, but also raises valid methodological and theoretical points. In Chapter8, Cecilie Basberg Neumann notes that ‘it is not at all certain that observable differencesin material standards between the two countries [Britain and Norway] have an effecton how prisoners experience being imprisoned’ (p.151). Indeed, in Chapter 11, BeritJohnsen and Per Kristian Granheim finally answer this reader’s curiosity about prisonconditions in the Nordic countries from the prisoners’ perspective. They present theresults of an empirical study on the quality of prison life in Norway. Interestingly, thescores on the Measuring the Quality of Prison Life (MQPL) survey do not indicate an‘exceptional’ prison experience; rather, their findings bear a similarity to those arising inEngland and Wales.

Occasionally the book (in particular Chapter 2, in which Thomas Mathiesen com-ments on the notion of Scandinavian exceptionalism) feels like a direct attack on Pratt,who is accused of having relied too much on propaganda-like information provided byrepresentatives of the prison system (p.15). However, this is balanced by the fact thatPratt has been given the opportunity to write the final chapter, in which he defends histhesis of Scandinavian exceptionalism.

In combination with Pratt’s articles, the book provides a balanced view of Nordicprison policy and practice, as seen by insiders and outsiders. The book is especially worthreading for researchers who are interested in prison research and comparative crimi-nology more generally. It exemplifies how we should never cease to be critical ofresearch methods, underlying assumptions and conclusions, in our pursuit of betterunderstanding the state and impact of penal policy.

References

Pratt, J. (2008a) ‘Scandinavian exceptionalism in an era of penal excess. Part I: Thenature and roots of Scandinavian exceptionalism’, British Journal of Criminology, 48,119–37.

Pratt, J. (2008b) ‘Scandinavian exceptionalism in an era of penal excess. Part II: DoesScandinavian exceptionalism have a future?’, British Journal of Criminology, 48, 275–92.

ESTHER VAN GINNEKENPhD Candidate,Institute of Criminology,University of Cambridge.




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