Publication
What the public really thinks about community sentences
Wednesday, 1 November 2006
What the public really thinks about community sentences is an evaluation of the 'Local Crime: Community Sentence' project which aims to raise public awareness about the importance of community sentences and to improve public confidence in them.
Though a democratic system of justice relies on public trust and confidence, it is well-known that the public is poorly informed about the workings of the criminal justice system.
There is an emerging recognition that the best way forward in developing an accountable criminal justice policy is through democratic engagement rather than using ill-designed opinion polls that fail to capture underlying perceptions.