Squaring the Circle

The chapter examines the steps taken by government to extend a system of early release to short sentence prisoners. The chapter reviews the HM Treasury decision to disinvest from a significant prison-building programme in England and Wales following the 1973 Public Expenditure Survey, an outcome that cast a long shadow over criminal justice policy in the 1970s. It goes on to explore the delicate negotiations that led to the ‘Jenkins initiative’, a reform package that loosened the risk appetite of the Parole Board, before setting out a detailed history of the rise and fall of the ‘partly suspended sentence’, a policy innovation which empowered sentencers to reduce the custodial element of a short prison sentence in certain circumstances. The chapter concludes by examining the change of direction within the Home Office following William Whitelaw’s appointment as Home Secretary in 1979.