Community Protection

Community Protection

Community protection is embedded in the criminal justice system and is characterized by the use of restriction, surveillance, monitoring and control, compulsory treatment and the prioritization of victim/community rights over those of offenders. Risk management plans are devised and delivered by statutory agencies in partnership, with police and probation as key drivers. This has been paralleled by increased attention to child protection. Risk decisions are seen as the preserve of the experts with the public largely excluded and characterized as both irrational and as a potential site of risk. Victims are not routinely integrated into risk assessment procedures or management planning. An ‘arm’s length’ approach has in effect been adopted. This approach takes place in a ‘climate of fear’ and of blame within which the State tends to blend paternalism with secrecy in order to protect the public.