Doing Less Time Penal reform in crisis By Janet B L Chan

Doing Less Time provides an in-depth account of the development and implementation of the release on licence scheme and of the theories of prison reform, decarceration and social control which lay behind its introduction into New South Wales prisons.

Interviews with those involved with its day-to-day operation record the story of the scheme itself - one marked by high expectations and deep disappointments.

Dr Chan also examines the reasons for its failure and the implications for penal reform in the years that followed.

Richard V Ericson, Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto said:
'This book should not be read as local knowledge about a peculiar policy in a particular place at a distant time. It is a study that contributes enormously to scholarly research on the State, social policy processes and penal reform. Dr Chan is to be congratulated for this important work ...'