The Adam Smith Institute
The Adam Smith Institute is the UK's leading innovator of free-market policies. Named after the great Scottish economist and author of The Wealth of Nations, its guiding principles are free markets and a free society. It researches practical ways to inject choice and competition into public services, extend personal freedom, reduce taxes, prune back regulation, and cut government waste.

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Community crime colleges
By Dr Eamonn Butler

Send kids to a state-run jail and they pick up all sorts of tips to boost their career of crime. We all know that. But I didn't know that the same is true of community-based punishments too. It turns out that low-risk offenders are more likely to re-offend after being sent to do community work.

And two-thirds of those on community punishment orders are... you guessed it, low risk. So we're not doing them, nor the community, any favours.

I picked this up at an Adam Smith Institute power lunch yesterday with Professor Rod Morgan (see photo), head of the UK Probation Inspectorate, and other experts from our Full Stop After Sentencing project.

Adam Smith said that all that is needed for prosperity is 'peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice'. Seems we have none of them! Is it time to privatize the courts and stop them doing daft things like sending low-risk types to community crime colleges?

2003-09-31-powerlunch.jpg



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Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Adam Smith was the great Scottish philosopher and economist best known for "The Wealth of Nations", his pioneering book on free trade and market economics.

A wide selection of material about Adam Smith is now available on the Adam Smith website. This includes the full text of his two major works, The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations.