Description
It is a common perception that violent crime is on the increase and social surveys record a growing fear of victimisation among the public. Yet not all violence is criminalised, and much criminal violence still goes unreported.
Punishing Violence examines the series of decisions - by victims, police officers, prosecutors and courts - which determine whether or not violent behaviour is criminalised.
Antonia Cretney and Gwynn Davis examine the relationships underpinning violence, the reasons for violent acts and the factors militating against successful court prosecutions. In doing so, they provide an authoritative account of the reality of assault and identify a serious dislocation between the purposes of victims and the purposes of the justice system in the treatment of violent crime.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations; Preface; 1 Introduction; A different kind of monitoring; Research method; 2 The Reality of assault; Sex; Age; Race; Lifestyle; Predictors; Assault archetypes; 3 Harm and reporting; Tolerance of violence; Assaults in a ‘domestic’ context; Reporting; 4 The victim and the police; The significance of the ‘complaint’; Seriousness and the limits of police discretion; 5 The police and the demands of the legal process; The demands of the prosecution process; The mechanics of detecting assault; Witnesses; The police, the prosecution and the public; 6 Police case construction; Police perception of the assailant; The significance of the assailant’s race; The imposition of police views in statement-taking; Determining the charge; 7 Victims in court; Difficulties faced by the prosecution in proving assault charges; The ‘story’ and the court; The victim in court; 8 Assault, prosecution and the victim; Criminalisation; Assault, prosecution and the victim; Appendix A—Research method; Appendix B—The cases; Notes; Bibliography; Index;
