King, R.D. (2008) ‘Terror, torture and legitimacy’ (paper presented at Conference onTorture, Centre for the Study of Violence, University of São Paulo, 25–7 February2008). (This paper has been published in Portuguese as ‘Terror, Tortura e Legitimi-dade’, in: N. Cardia, and R. Astolfi (Eds.), A Tortura na Era dos Direitos Humanos, SãoPaulo: EDUSP. Copies in English, however, are available from the author.)

King, R.D. (2014) ‘Managing difficult and dangerous prisoners in Britain and theUnited States: a question of legitimacy’, forthcoming in: J. Wooldredge and P. Smith(Eds.), Handbook on Prisons, New York: Oxford University Press.

King, R.D. and Resodihardjo, S. (2010) ‘To max or not to max: dealing with high riskprisoners in the Netherlands and England and Wales’, Punishment and Society, 12(1),65–84.

King, R.D. and Valensia, B. (2014) ‘Power, control and symbiosis in Brazilian prisons’,forthcoming in: L. Cheliotis (Ed.), South Atlantic Quarterly (special edition).

Morris, N. (2002) Maconochie’s Gentleman: The Story of NorfolK Island and the Roots ofModern Prison Reform, New York: Oxford University Press.

National Institute of Corrections (1997) Supermax Housing: A Survey of Current Practice(special issues in corrections), Longmont, CO.: US Department of Justice, NationalInstitute of Corrections.

Reiter, K. (2012) ‘Parole, snitch, or die: California’s supermax prisons and prisoners,1987–2007’, Punishment and Society, 14(5), 530–63.

Resodihardjo, S. (2009) Crisis and Change in the British and Dutch Prison Services: Under-standing Crisis-reform Processes, Burlington, VT.: Ashgate.

Simon, J. (2011) ‘Mass incarceration on trial’ (editorial), Punishment and Society, 13(3),251–5.

Sparks, R., Bottoms, A.E. and Hay, W. (1996) Prisons and the Problem of Order, Oxford:Clarendon Press.

ROY D. KINGProfessor Emeritus,University of Wales,and Visiting Research Fellow,Institute of Criminology,University of Cambridge.

A Future for Policing in England and Wales T. Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press(2013) 255pp. £39.99pb ISBN 978-0-19-968445-8; The Future of Policing J.M. Brown(Ed.). London: Routledge (2014) 522pp. £130.00hb ISBN 978-0-415-82162-9

Beware when writing books with ‘future’ in the title; they are date-stamped and at somepoint will be judged by academic reviewers for the accuracy of their commentaries. Thishas never deterred authors from gazing into the possible futures of policing (see, for anilluminating example, Wright (2000)), with understandably mixed results. These areinteresting times for policing for a variety of well-documented reasons and it is nosurprise that two books should emerge within months of each other that seek to makesense of the present and look to the future.

Tim Brain’s focus is placed squarely on the coalition government’s police reformprogramme and its implications for the future of policing in England and Wales. Heprefers the indefinite article in his title, acknowledging possible alternative futures, butthere is no hint of hesitation as he documents the recent political history of policing,charting (Chapter 3) the relationship between the Conservative Party and the policefrom 1964 to 2010 and examining (Chapter 2) the rise of ‘new Conservatism’ encapsu-lated within the concept of the Big Society. Far from being a ‘remote and meaningless

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concept’ (p.27), Brain argues that the underlying ideas are the driving force behind thecoalition’s policies. The Labour Government’s reforms from 1997 to 2010 and theirlegacy, are also well described, and reviewed (Chapters 1 and 4). This sets the stage forBrain’s analysis of the coalition’s reform programme since 2010, driven by David Cam-eron’s desire for a policing revolution first articulated at his 2006 annual Police Foun-dation lecture.

In successive chapters, drawing on the technique of environmental scanning, Brainexamines the reform programme’s components, its outcomes by mid-2013 and theimplications for: police finances and resources; constitutional change (principally thereplacement of local police authorities with Police and Crime Commissioners); pay andconditions; organisational and operational policing; and the operating environment.The commentaries on the main developments in these areas are meticulous and incisive,though some of the discussed implications (for example, those concerning direct entryto the higher ranks) will inevitably soon be overtaken, given the pace at which policingreform is moving.

In the final chapter, Brain draws together the various threads to project the alter-native policing futures of an ultimately successful (for the coalition, if not the police)reform programme set up against the ‘nightmare’ counter-vision of a failed reformprogramme. Considering the alternatives, significantly Brain notes the absence of acollective police leadership counter-narrative to influence contemporary policing, unlikein 1989 when the main staff associations jointly commissioned the Operational PolicingReview which contributed to the amelioration of the then Conservative Government’sreform agenda.

There is much to be gained from a close reading of Brain’s book, not least a deeperunderstanding of the contours of recent developments in policing, and the politics ofpolicing in recent decades. As a former chief constable with academic credentials, Brainwrites with authority and insider status. The certainty that characterises many seniorpolice officers is evident, balanced with academic rigour and good style. The book, Ipredict, will be valued as much as a history and analysis of the present as a forecast ofpossible futures.

While Brain has analysed the coalition’s policing programme, Jennifer Brown’sedited collection originates from the Labour Party initiated Independent Commissioninto the Future of Policing in England and Wales. Chaired by former Metropolitan PoliceCommissioner, Lord Stevens, the Commission published its report in November 2013with recommendations including the centrality of a social justice model of neighbour-hood policing, the strengthening of partnership working, and the replacement of Policeand Crime Commissioners (PCCs), a flawed means of police governance (available at:http://independentpolicecommission.org.uk/ (accessed 2 May 2014)).

The Commission utilised a reference group of academics whose brief was to producethemed papers to inform its deliberations. These papers form the basis of this collectionand in her introduction, Brown explains that the purpose of the book is not to elaboratea programme of recommended change for the future. Rather it is to render transparentthe analyses made available to the Commission and to provide a resource for scholarsand practitioners. Brown distances her collection from Newburn’s (2008) excellent, butageing, Handbook of Policing, stating that the chapters are not introductions to differentaspects of policing, but focused contributions offering analyses of evidence, criticalopinion and the application of new ideas on the themes of (i) the challenges of contem-porary policing, (ii) the practice of policing, and (iii) the support of policing. Under thesethemes, 31 chapters explore: the purposes of policing; its cultures; its relationships withthe extended family, private policing providers, partners and academics; its delivery inarenas including public order, counter-terrorism, crime prevention and organisedcrime; professionalisation; and governance.

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443© 2014 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

The chapters are authored by an impressive range of seasoned senior and earliercareer scholars and the overall quality is high. There are too many chapters to discusseach in any detail in this short review and it is somewhat unfair to single out particularchapters. However, I particularly enjoyed: Clive Emsley’s thoughtful insight into thecurrently-popular and seemingly-straightforward Peelian principles; Ian Loader, recog-nising (like Brain above) the coalition’s revolutionary approach to policing, and unpick-ing the Police and Crime Commissioners in his consideration of why the police matter;and Matthew Bacon’s lively discussion of the much-worked territory of police culture. Inaddition, while focusing on policing in England and Wales, the contributions drawing onideas and experiences from Ireland, Scotland, Europe, Australia and the United Statesare well judged. Their inclusion ensures that matters of professionalisation and govern-ance are considered both in breadth and depth, adding to the richness of the collectionand to its value as a source book. The original intention may have been to provide insightinto the academic underpinning of the Stevens Report but the by-product is a state-of-the-art collection that signals the healthy state of police research and scholarship. Theextent to which this can be translated to the development of a new and improved modelof policing (p.xxviii) is not within the powers, currently, of the Labour Party. Neverthe-less, the shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, indicated at the launch of the reportthat her party, if elected, would implement the ‘vast majority’ of the recommendations.

While neither of these topical books predict the future for policing (as Brain says‘forecasting is a tricky matter’ (p.224)), both are excellent analyses of contemporarypolicing with much to offer students, teachers and practitioners of policing and criminaljustice. Both deserve to be required reading for advanced undergraduate and post-graduate students. It is a shame that their prices, £39.99 and £130 respectively, arebeyond the average student’s book budget.

References

Newburn, T. (Ed.) (2008) Handbook of Policing, 2nd edn, Cullompton: Willan.Wright, A. (2000) ‘Managing the future: an academic’s view’, in: F. Leishman, B.

Loveday and S.P. Savage (Eds.), Core Issues in Policing, 2nd edn, London: Longman.

ROB C. MAWBYReader in Criminology,Department of Criminology,University of Leicester.

Children and Cross-Examination: Time to Change the Rules? J.R. Spencer and M.E. Lamb(Eds.). Oxford: Hart (2012) 291pp. £31.00pb ISBN 978-1-849-46307-2

The main aim of this book is to debate the current practice of cross-examining childwitnesses in the UK with a particular regard to its shortcomings, as well as potentialimprovements.

The essays presented in this book are based on a conference that was held inCambridge in April 2011.1 Professors Spencer and Lamb, both experts on child wit-nesses and cross-examinations, bring together an excellent selection of authors whopresent their knowledge and practical experience of cross-examinations. Internationalpractices from countries such as Australia, the United States, Austria and Norway areillustrated and compared. This makes the book very worthwhile reading as well aspractically relevant, because it successfully examines valid alternatives to the currentpractice in the UK.

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The Howard Journal Vol 53 No 4. September 2014ISSN 0265-5527, pp. 434–446

444© 2014 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd