Barbara Wootton and the Legacy of a Pioneering Public Criminologist

This book offers an assessment of Barbara Wootton’s legacy as a pioneering public criminologist. Barbara Wootton (1897-1988) was a leading British social scientist, magistrate, academic and public servant. She was also a life peer (Baroness Wootton of Abinger) and the first woman to sit on the Woolsack in the House of Lords as Deputy Speaker. One of the Royal Commissions on which she served was on the Penal System, (1964) and two of the Departmental Committees were on the Business of the Criminal Courts (1958) and Criminal Statistics (1963). Of her written work perhaps the most famous is “Social Science and Social Pathology” (published in 1959) which was an attempt to discover what the social sciences had to say about criminality, its causes and its social effects.

This book examines her career in historical context, and her contribution to thinking and scholarship on a range of topics. These topics range from the courts and the penal system and her report on the Community Service Order, to crime and criminal law and her analysis of the notions of mens rea, to her work on psychiatry and criminal justice. It explores her contribution as a utilitarian critic in Criminology, within the British empiricist tradition.

Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, criminal justice, law and all those interested in learning more about Barbara’s life and times.