Parole for Discretionary Lifers (Paperback)

Parole for Discretionary Lifers documents and draws conclusions for practice from a ground-breaking study of the lives of 150 discretionary life sentence prisoners after their release into the community by the Parole Board. Conducted by two forensic psychiatrists, David Tidmarsh and Sian Koppel, on behalf of the Parole Board, the study considered the prisoners' childhood and criminal history, the nature of the offence - including manslaughter, arson and sexual offences - and the offenders' behaviour both in prison and on licence after release. The study results included information on physical and mental illness and personality disorder and examine reasons for recall, which occurred in about a third of the cases. This book is the first to consider in detail an area of criminology that is politically sensitive owing to the nature of the offences. It is essential reading for members of the Parole Board and Prison Service, forensic psychiatrists and social workers.