Throughout the Western world public opinion plays an important role in shaping criminal justice policy. At the same time opinion polls demonstrate that the public knows little about crime or justice. This title addresses this problem drawing on research from many countries.

Community policing is widely regarded as central to the future of policing, yet many consider that it works best where it is least needed and worst where it is most needed. This title seeks to test these truisms and explore the the concept of community policing across a range of contexts.

Media representations of law and order are matters of keen public interest. This work brings together a range of papers from researchers addressing issues of fictional, factual, and hybrid representations in the media - the so called docu-dramas and faction .

This title seeks to bring together a selection of extracts from the most important contributions to the restorative justice literature and its emergent philosophy. It contains works by some of the proponents of restorative justice, as well as its critics.

This title is a study of the workings of the Discretionary Lifer Panels of the Parole Board, the body charged with the responsibility for making decisions on the release of discretionary life sentence prisoners. It traces the origins of the Panel and the way it subsequently developed.

This title provides an overview of recent government initiatives in the field of crime and punishment, reviewing both the policies themselves, the perceived problems and issues they wish to address, and the broader social and politial context in which this is taking place.

Prisons are dangerous places - assaults and threats are pervasive - this is attributable to the characteristics of the captive population and an institutional culture which promotes violence. This title seeks to address this issue.

Throughout much the western world more and more people are being sent to prison, one of a number of changes inspired by a 'new punitiveness' in penal and political affairs.