Volume III of The Official History of Criminal Justice in England and Wales draws on archival sources and individual accounts to offer a history of penal policymaking in England and Wales between 1959 and 1997.

David Downes is Professor Emeritus of Social Policy and a member and former director of the Mannheim Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice at the London School of Economics, UK.

1. The Rise of Penal Hope, 1895-1967 2. Dropping the Admiral: Changing policy on maximum security imprisonment, 1965-8 3. Getting to Grips: The making of the dispersal system, 1968-79 4. Forcing the Issue: Penal policy from May to Langdon 5. The Making of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 6. The Woolf Report and After 7. The Pursuit of Innovation 8. Conclusion