Critically assess the success of community sentences in terms of reducing the prison population.

... Critically assess the success of community sentences in terms of reducing the prison population. On Friday 26 July 2002, the prison population in England and Wales reached an all time high of 71,723. It was the culmination of a decade of growth in prison numbers under conservative and labour Home Secretaries that led to this. Twelve years ago the Prison population was seen to be declining as courts used more community based punishments. But that soon changed as Home secretaries followed up rhetoric of being 'tough' on crime by asking the courts to jail more people. Historically, the UK's prison population rose throughout the twentieth century. The most significant increases began after 1951 when courts began sending more people to jail. The initial response to the rapidly escalating prison number crisis in the UK was to increase the range of non-custodial options that were available to judges and to encourage them

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