Crime and the Penal System (v.2) (Selected Writings) - Tapa dura

Barbara Wootton (1897-1988) was a leading social scientist, magistrate, academic and public servant, a life peer and the only woman Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords. The author of 15 books, mostly on economic and social issues, she was a member of government committees and four Royal Commissions, a BBC governor, university professor, an honorary alumna of 13 universities and a Companion of Honour. Most of these writings, spanning 59 years and drawing on considerable academic and practical experience at home and abroad, are relevant today. Wootton analyzes many problems in criminology and law, social welfare and the social sciences, wage determination and income policies, arguing throughout for equality, a rational approach generally and the application of scientific method to problems of the material environment. An iconoclast, Wootton's intellectual scepticism is always leavened by insistence on being constructive. Her lifelong commitment to an egalitarian socialism emerges, accompanied by deep moral and social concern and a hatred of all injustices, hypocrisy and jargon. This volume continues the dialogue about crime, considering more fully the relationship to psychopathy, deviance and mental health, which concept, as well as that of sin, is well explored. In this context, Wootton discusses ethics, honesty, sex and the law, murder and capital punishment - her own study of diminished reponsibility in 73 cases of murder is reproduced. Papers follow on social welfare and Wootton's hopes for the future of social work and the social services, her great concern about poverty having already emerged. A lively criticism follows of, mainly, social workers' writings of the time. Philip Bean is also the editor of the Festschrift to Barbara Wootton entitled "Barbara Wootton: Social Services and Public Policy. Essays in Her Honour".