Alternatives to custody: evidence from police force areas in England and Wales

England and Wales have some of the highest incarceration rates in the developed world. Recent policy reforms have focused on developing alternatives to custody that offer credible protection for the public, and justice for victims of crime. This article uses unique detailed panel-level data acquired...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Abramovaite, Juste (Author) ; Bandyopadhyay, Siddhartha (Author) ; Bhattacharya, Samrat (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
In: The British journal of criminology
Year: 2019, Volume: 59, Issue: 4, Pages: 800-822
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Keywords:
Panel data
Incarceration
Community sentences
Sentencing policy
Violent crime
Property crime
Eigentumsdelikte
Inhaftierung
Strafzumessungspraxis
Description
Summary:England and Wales have some of the highest incarceration rates in the developed world. Recent policy reforms have focused on developing alternatives to custody that offer credible protection for the public, and justice for victims of crime. This article uses unique detailed panel-level data acquired from the Ministry of Justice for all Police Force Areas from 2002 to 2013 in England and Wales to analyse the effects of custodial and non-custodial sentences on recorded crime. Our results suggest that non-custodial sentences can be an effective alternative to custody at reducing property crime but their effect is less consistent for violent crime. This suggests that non-custodial sentences are credible, cost-effective substitutes to incarceration.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azy056