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‘Fitted both Morally and Physically to Fulfil his Proper Duties in the Battle of Life’? – The Effectiveness or Otherwise of Penal Servitude and Imprisonment 1853–2021
Author(s) -
COX DAVID J.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the howard journal of crime and justice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.462
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 2059-1101
pISSN - 2059-1098
DOI - 10.1111/hojo.12419
Subject(s) - imprisonment , battle , sentence , law , preventive detention , order (exchange) , life imprisonment , criminology , political science , sociology , psychology , prison , history , computer science , business , archaeology , finance , artificial intelligence
This article is a response to two questions posed in an article published in the first volume of the Howard Journal. That article asked, ‘should penal servitude be abolished?’ and also discussed the merits of ‘preventive detention’, in which so‐called ‘habitual’ criminals could be imprisoned for up to ten years after their original sentence had expired, in order to keep the public safe for an extended time. The current article therefore looks at the limitations and problems of penal servitude (which operated from 1853 until 1948) together with a brief examination of the success or otherwise of preventive detention.