Description
Book SynopsisNipping Crime in the Bud explores the origins and development of the Philanthropic Society (and its influence on contemporary institutions) amid growing alarm about crime levels, Draconian sentences under England's Bloody Code and a paucity of effective crime prevention measures. Driven by Enlightenment zeal and ideals, this was the first voluntary sector charity devoted to 'nipping crime in the bud'. It did so through education, training, accom modation, mentoring and support for young people. Uniquely, the book traces the first hard won policy networks and partnerships between government and the voluntary sector. It reveals how-sometimes against the odds, with funding on a knife edge but constantly striving for effective answers-influential philan thropists rose to the challenge and changed approaches to young people involved in crime and delinquency, traces of which endure today within the great crime prevention charities which still rally to this cause. Muriel Whitten's book draws on previously neglected archival sources and other first-hand research to create a formidable and illuminating account about what, for many people, will be a missing chapter in English social and legal history.
Trade Review'Nipping Crime in the Bud is a fascinating read. It combines history, criminology, politics, the law and philosophy and yet tells an absorbing tale that one could find in any of the main stream non-academic book charts': Euro Vista. 'Describes in colourful detail the background to the founding of the Society and how its founders and their successors worked. It explains how their plans were put into practice, how they governed and how they acquired support. It skilfully deals with questions that are still asked today such as to what extent are children to be held responsible for wrongdoing? ... Dr Whitten is admirably suited to write such a book ... [and] her knowledge and experience are distilled in this comprehensive and well-written book': John Hostettler, legal historian.
Table of ContentsAbout the author Acknowledgements Foreword Dedication The Philanthropic Quest The Philanthropic Plan Put Into Practice Problems of Governance Reformatory Refinements A Thinning Mesh of Support Enlightenment The Legislative Quest Into the Future Bibliography Index
