Ecological Theories Related To Causes Of Crime Suggest That Aggression Is

Ecological theories related to causes of crime suggest that aggression is likely to occur when large numbers of people are concentrated in small spaces. They begin to squabble with each other, and this could lead to rioting. Overcrowding may thus be an important explanation for disorders within prisons. The disturbance at Strangeways prison in 1990 occurred at a time when over 1,600 prisoners occupied space designed for less than 1000. (Joyce, 2001: 226).
Having examined the reasons why England and Wales has such a high prison population and some of the problems for the criminal justice system that stem directly from it, it is important to now consider what measures have been taken to reduce the prison population and how successful these have been. There have been a number of initiatives and approaches adopted by policy-makers in recent decades to tackle the problems of growing prison numbers. '.it is not a new problem faced by the prison service and has resulted in a number of Home Secretaries introducing piecemeal interventions to solve particular crises. These included the 1982 Criminal Justice Act (which permitted the release of non-serious offenders up to six months before they had served their sentence), the introduction of changes in the parole system to facilitate the release of non-serious offenders (1984) and the increase in remission of sentence for good behaviour' (1987) (Joyce, 2001: 226). There are two broad approaches or methods of reducing prison numbers, or at least preventing them from continuing to rise, these are; reducing the number of offenders who receive custodial sentences from the courts; and allowing for the early release of certain prisoners.
In 1988 the Home Office published a Green Paper that argued that imprisonment wasn't the most effective form of punishment for the majority of offences and that it should be reserved for only the most serious of crimes involving significant risks to the public. At the same time support for a greater use of non-custodial community sentences was widely growing. Despite previous attempts to restrict the use of custodial sentences being largely unsuccessful, the government appeared determined to implement a new police framework for sentencing in its 1990 White Paper 'Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public' that would set out clear policy guidance to judges that would discourage imprisonment as much as possible. 'The 1990 White Paper declared that 'most crimes are not violent and for many of those who commit them, punishment in the community is likely to be better for the victim, the public and the offender, than a custodial sentence' (White Paper, 1990 para 1.11.). Many viewed this new approach by the government to be a greatly positive step towards a less punitive criminal justice system and a reduction in prison population. The key factor in this approach was the introduction of the Criminal Justice Act of 1991.