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Criminal Justice Act Of 1964 Essay

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Harold Wilson, the Labour Politician who became Prime Minister in 1964, passed the Criminal Justice Act of 1967, which introduced reform in three sections: the prison system and sentencing practises of courts, juvenile offenders and the law on murder. A suspended sentence was introduced which aimed at reducing mandatory prison sentences. Magistrates were encouraged to not give prison sentences to people who had only committed minor offences. This resulted in fewer people going to prison for crimes punishable by a fine or community service. Sydney Silverman managed to abolish the death penalty in 1965 which was seen as huge progress. The Criminal Justice Act of 1972 introduced fully the rehabilitation method of community service which reduced the number of people going to prison. Community service gave offenders a chance to turn their negative impact on the community to a positive one. Wilson made huge changes to the Criminal Justice System and the changes he made were positive. According to Andrew Sanders and Robert Young, the English …show more content…

During the 1990s and the start of the 21st century, various factors added up which resulted in a huge increase in prisoners. This had a severe effect on the prisons all over the country, causing problems of containment. Firstly, the first school league table in 1992, which listed the schools all over the country based on how good they were run. Some head teachers that wanted to get at the top of the table, expelled naughty students causing these kids to have a hard time getting into other schools or getting jobs. The majority of them had a lot of free time and turned to crime because of boredom and exclusion from society. The prison population increased by 91% between the years 1993 to 2014. More offenders were being sentenced over these years and for a longer period of time. No progress was made. The 1989 Children’s Act held that a child’s welfare should be paramount (Muncie

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