Successive governments have promised to reform criminal justice in England and Wales and to make it more efficient and more effective in preventing and reducing crime. And yet there is still a feeling that not enough has been achieved and more has to be done – a feeling that the English riots in August 2011 painfully revived. Where Next for Criminal Justice? offers a principled framework for the development of policy, legislation and practice, and argues with examples for an approach to criminal justice which acknowledges the limitations on what governments and reforms of criminal justice can achieve on their own, and where the focus is on promoting procedural justice and legitimacy; fostering human decency and civility; and enabling prevention, restoration and desistance from crime.

Successive governments have promised to reform criminal justice in England and Wales and to make it more efficient and more effective in preventing and reducing crime. And yet there is still a feeling that not enough has been achieved and more has to be done – a feeling that the English riots in August 2011 painfully revived. Where Next for Criminal Justice? offers a principled framework for the development of policy, legislation and practice, and argues with examples for an approach to criminal justice which acknowledges the limitations on what governments and reforms of criminal justice can achieve on their own, and where the focus is on promoting procedural justice and legitimacy; fostering human decency and civility; and enabling prevention, restoration and desistance from crime.