STUDIES IN PENOLOGY I.P.P.F. ETUDESPENOLOGIQUES F.I.P.P. ETUDES PENOLOGIQUES a dediees fa memoire de SIR LIONEL FOX, C.B., M.C. par La Fondation Internationale Penale et Penitentiaire REUNIES par CHARLES GERMAIN et MANUEL LOPEZ-REY • ~ . ". . ~. Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V - 1964 STUDIES IN PENOLOGY dedicated to tbe memory of SIR LIONEL FOX, C.B., M.C. by The International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation EDITED by MANUEL LOPEZ-REY and CHARLES GERMAIN . . ~ Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V - 1964 ISBN 978-94-017-6421-6 ISBN 978-94-017-6530-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-6530-5 Copyright 1964 by Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands in 1964. All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form Sir Lionel Fox, C.B., M.C. Lionel Wray Fox est ne Ie 21 fevrier 1895 a Halifax, dans Ie Yorkshire. II est decede a Londres Ie 6 octobre 1961, a l'age de soixante-six ans. Ayant fait ses etudes d'abord dans sa ville natale, au Heath Grammar School, puis au Hertford College a Oxford, il s'engagea dans l'armee des Ie debut de la guerre de 1914. II y re<;ut la Military Cross ainsi que la Croix de Guerre belge et fit l'objet de plusieurs citations. A sa demo bilisation, il avait acquis Ie grade de capitaine et obtint un poste au Home Office. Six ans plus tard, il etait nomme Secretaire de la Com mission des Prisons. En 1934, il se vit confier la charge de Receveur adjoint du Metropolitan Police District et fit fonctions de Receveur titulaire de 1941 a 1942. II devint president de la Commission des Prisons en 1942 et occupa ce poste sans interruption pendant dix-huit ans, jusqu'a son admission a la retraite en aout 1960. II fut fait Com pagnon de l'Ordre du Bain en 1948 et se vit conferer en 1953 un tite de chevalerie (Knigthood). II a ete membre de la Commission internationale penale et penitentiaire, president de 1952 a 1960 du Groupe consultatif des Nations Unies pour la prevention du crime et Ie traitement des delinquants, presi dent en 1958 du Comite consultatif special d'experts des Nations Unies dans Ie meme domaine, et president du Comite europeen pour les prob!emes crimi nels institue au Conseil de l'Europe. Dne grave maladie fit obstacle a son election en qualite de president du Deuxieme Congres des Nations Unies pour la prevention du crime et Ie traitement des delinquants, tenu a Londres en 1960; cependant, Ie Congres en fit son president d'honneur. Apres son admission a la retraite, il devint conseiller et charge de cours de l'Institut de Criminologie de Cambridge. Publications: The Modern English Prison, 1933 et The English Prison and Borstal Systems, 1952. Le Livre Blanc sur Penal Practice in a Changing Society, publie par Ie Home Office en 1959, contient beaucoup de ses idees et de ses propositions pour une reorganisation profonde des prisons. Si toutes n'ont pas ete adoptees, Fox n'en a pas moins pose les assises d'un systeme penitentiaire moderne. -VI- Sir Lionel Fox, C.B., M.C. Lionel Wray Fox was born on 21 February 1895 in Halifax, Yorkshire, and died in London on 6 October 1961 at the age of sixty-six. Educated at Heath Grammar School, Halifax, and later at Hertford College, Oxford, he joined the Army on the outbreak of the 1914-1918 War and was awarded the M.C. and the Belgian Croix de Guerre and mentioned in despatches. He attained the rank of Captain and on demobilization obtained a post in the Home Office. Some six years later he was appointed Secretary to the Prison Commission. In 1934 he took up the office of Deputy Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District, serving in 1941-42 as Acting Receiver. In 1942 he became Chairman of the Prison Commission, a position which he kept until his retirement in August 1960 having served for eighteen years. He was created a C.B. in 1948 and in 1953 received a Knighthood. He was a Member of the International Penal and Penitentiary Commission, Chairman of the United Nations Consultative Group for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders from 1952 to 1960, Chairman of the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on the same matter in 1958, and Chairman of the Committee on Crime Problems of the Council of Europe. Serious illness prevented him from being elected President of the Second United Nations Congress for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in London in 1960; the Congress, however, elected him its Honorary President. After retirement he became Adviser and Lecturer in the Cambridge Institute of Criminology. Publications: The Modern English Prison, 1933 and The English Prison and Borstal Systems, 1952. The 1959 White Paper on Penal Practice in a Changing Society, published by the Home Office, contains many of his ideas and far-reaching proposals on the reorganization of prisons. If not all of them have been adopted, Fox laid the foundation of a modern prison system. -VII- SIR LIONEL FOX, C.B., M.e. Introduction During almost ten years I was in close and frequent contact with Lionel Fox, both as Chief of the United Nations Section of Social Defence and as a friend. He was the permanent Chairman of the United Nations European Consultative Group on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, and he came to New York as one of the members of the Ad Hoc Committee of Experts on the same matter in 1958 and was elected Chairman of that body; we were together at the First United Nations Congress and during the preparation of the Second; I went to London quite often and always managed to see him. We became good friends and felt we were working together from different angles for the same purpose. Unlike many senior civil servants of well developed countries Lionel Fox was really interested in international activities. He was fully aware that nowadays improvement and progress in the treatment of offenders requires more sources of information and learning than are offered by national tradition and methods. This partly explains the important role he played at international meetings, where his views were always respected. As a Chairman he was a sort of rara avis in the sense that he had invariably studied in advance the documents prepared for the items on the agenda. He was patient, able to give the right answer at the right moment and courteously but firmly kept the matter under discussion within its terms of reference; qualities that international civil servants greatly appreciate since they lead to results and prevent the wasting of time and efforts. Shortly before the London Congress he asked me to see him. In few and simple words he told me that he had to go to hospital for an operation and would therefore be unable to attend the Congress that we had been preparing together for more than a year and of which he would almost certainly have been elected President. With no dramatics and no personal questions raised we discussed the steps to be taken. The most felicitous was that which eventually led to the election of Sir Charles Cunningham as President of the Congress. -IX- x INTRODUCTION The Congress elected Lionel Fox Honorary President and when Sir Char les welcomed him at the closing session he received a standing ovation. When discussing matters at international meetings Lionel Fox was always in favour of a realistic approach which would enable govern ments and authorities to carry out the recommendations or suggestions made. His views carried weight since behind them there was the ex perience of a man of progressive ideas and methods fully aware of the limitations that policy-makers and administrators face. Between theory and practice he was mostly in favour of the latter - not as a question of principle but as the result of weighing carefully the advantages and disadvantages involved. In this respect his position vis-a-vis indetermi nate sentence is illustrative; he was never convinced that its theoretical advantages outweigh its practical disadvantages. He maintained a similar attitude with respect of recidivists - a term non-existent in English criminal law - and the cumulative system of adding to the main penalty a so-called mesure de surete that is actually no more than an extension of the imprisonment imposed. Briefly, he brought a sense of proportion to the United Nations meetings that greatly contributed to their success. On 19 September 1961 he wrote me a letter informing me that again he had to go to Westminster Hospital. With his characteristic equanimity he said: "This of course has quite upset my plans for teaching at the Institute next term. Howeverforsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit." I had the satisfaction of knowing that my reply reached him. A few days later he died and the dawn of the day of pleasant remembrance for him and his friends never came. Later my suggestion that a volume of essays be dedicated to him met with the friendly cooperation of his old colleagues and particularly of the International Penal and Penitentiary Foundation the President of which, my good friend Charles Germain, immediately offered his support. I want to thank all contributors and particularly Charles Germain with whom I shared the responsibility of preparing this book. As for its contents, suffice it to say here that in view of the varity of subjects dealt with the alphabetical order of authors is the most suitable arrangement. In spite of their different approaches all the essays have the common feature of being a hommage of a group of friends to one of them - Lionel Fox. Ankara, January 1964. MANUEL LOPEZ-REY