Call for changes to policing system

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In order to move away from the current "centralised and technocratic" system of "Robocop justice", Reform argues for the introduction of local justice commissioners, community police boxes and regionalised criminal justice policies.

The group wants to see an "information revolution", with televised court proceedings and prison activities, detailed crime mapping and online offender databases.

It is also calling for the introduction of a National Bureau of Investigation to tackle serious nationwide crime, and innovative policing including the use of more volunteers and specialist "hit squads" to deal with pressing issues.

In a 36-page report entitled The Lawful Society, Reform says Britain has the most expensive criminal justice system in the world but that over-centralisation is failing to deliver results.

It also says the "have a go hero" is an increasing rarity, with Britons the least likely in Europe to intervene when a crime is taking place.

And it argues that crime has been "nationalised and politicised" to such an extent a myth has developed that the Home Secretary and even the Prime Minister is responsible for every assault.

The authors wrote: "Britain's 'Robocop' criminal justice system is a one-size-fits-all-system, where human judgment and engagement has been replaced by bureaucratic process and where the machine has gained a momentum of its own.

"The result has been a removal of autonomy from localities and the criminal justice profession, resulting in a 'policing by numbers' approach with perverse incentives and poor results. Thus, the additional funds put in to the service have failed to deliver the improvements that they should have done."

They added: "The result is a criminal justice system without a human face - bureaucratic, technocratic and machine-like. If the face of British criminal justice was once George Dixon of Dock Green, the new face might be the Robocop of Detroit's fictional future."