Persistent Criminals: A Home Office Research Unit Report

By W. H. Hammond & Edna Chayen

Study Focus: The document examines persistent offenders liable to preventive detention in 1956, analyzing their criminal characteristics and the effectiveness of preventive detention.

Preventive Detention: It highlights the ineffectiveness of preventive detention in reducing crime among persistent offenders, noting that only a small proportion are diverted from crime.

Comparison: The study compares these offenders with those from a previous study byProfessor Norval Morris, finding similar characteristics over a 20-year period.

Recommendations: Suggestions are made for improving the selection and treatment of offenders to better protect society and rehabilitate criminals.

London, Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1963, 237 pages