Abstract: | The modern concept of the indeterminate sentence can be traced to the Report of the Gladstone Committee on Prisons, 1895. It was to be used against habitual criminals convicted of committing serious crimes who had bad records. In England, this form of punishment was supposed to be reserved for dangerous offenders; in Rhodesia, no such reservation has been made. The concept rests on three major presumptions, i.a. that treatment in prison will cause a desirable change. The essence of the indeterminate sentence is contained in three principles, i.a. that the sentencing court determines that an offender requires a long period of incarceration, but does not know how long. However, this form of punishment has failed in Rhodesia and England for a variety of reasons, not because it is bad in concept, but because efforts to execute it have been deficient. Maconochie's experiments on Norfolk Island (Australia) demonstrated that a properly planned system of indeterminate punishment will succeed in its aim. Notes; ref.; appendices with tables. |