Contemporary Penal Policy | Exercises Law

Seminar 1: Contemporary Penal Policy

Essential Reading

Newburn (2017) ‘The Politics of Crime and Its Control’, in Criminology (3rd

edition) Abingdon: Routledge [available as e-book and multiple copies

available in library]

Newburn and Sparks (2004) ‘Criminal Justice and Political Cultures’ in

Criminal Justice and Political Cultures Abingdon: Routledge [available as e-

book and multiple copies available in library]

Melossi, Sozzo and Sparks (2011) ‘Introduction: Criminal questions, cultural

embeddedness and diffusion’ in Travels of the Criminal Question Oxford:

Hart [pdf available on Blackboard in ‘Seminar 1’ folder]1

Prompts

Prompts will be provided for each seminar to guide your reading and will be

provided, in some form, for each class. See also the ‘Guidance on Reading’ provided

on Blackboard, which will help you to engage with the kinds of texts that we will

encounter in this module. Because it is the first week, the prompts here are a little

more detailed than usual.

Introduction: aims in the module

Political and social dynamics that influence criminal justice policy

Focus mainly on ENG and WAL but will look at other jurisdictions

How societies are and should be structured / The effects of crime/non-crime

policies on crime and the appropriateness of how we respond to crime

Over 10 years (Austerity) crime hasn’t really gone up, education, housing,

welfare all play a part in this

Brief definitions:

Penal – relating to ‘the punishment of offenders under the legal system’

Policy: legislation, rules, actual practice

Politics: ideologies and traditions

*When discussing penal policy, we are discussing the state imposing pain on people –

and how they legally do this (not saying that this is necessarily wrong)

Christie,1994 – criminal justice as ‘pain infliction’ (The delivery of pain, to whom

and for what contains an endless line of deep moral questions’)

Newburn (2017)

Useful introduction to the role that crime has played in UK-US politics over the past

50 years or so; and the way in which penal policy and politics interact.

Problematic?

1. How and why did the ‘first order’ and ‘second order’ bipartisan consensuses

on criminal justice emerge?

2. What is the role and meaning of crime/cj in politics and policy making?

3. What factors primarily influence changes in penal policy?

1 Please note that there will be a short delay in this reading available, which should be resolved shortly.

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Seminar 1: Contemporary Penal Policy Essential Reading  Newburn (2017) ‘The Politics of Crime and Its Control’, in Criminology (3rd edition) Abingdon: Routledge [available as e-book and multiple copies available in library]  Newburn and Sparks (2004) ‘Criminal Justice and Political Cultures’ in Criminal Justice and Political Cultures Abingdon: Routledge [available as e- book and multiple copies available in library]  Melossi, Sozzo and Sparks (2011) ‘Introduction: Criminal questions, cultural embeddedness and diffusion’ in Travels of the Criminal Question Oxford: Hart [pdf available on Blackboard in ‘Seminar 1’ folder]^1 Prompts Prompts will be provided for each seminar to guide your reading and will be provided, in some form, for each class. See also the ‘Guidance on Reading’ provided on Blackboard, which will help you to engage with the kinds of texts that we will encounter in this module. Because it is the first week, the prompts here are a little more detailed than usual. Introduction: aims in the module  Political and social dynamics that influence criminal justice policy  Focus mainly on ENG and WAL but will look at other jurisdictions  How societies are and should be structured / The effects of crime/non-crime policies on crime and the appropriateness of how we respond to crime  Over 10 years (Austerity) crime hasn’t really gone up, education, housing, welfare all play a part in this Brief definitions: Penal – relating to ‘the punishment of offenders under the legal system’ Policy: legislation, rules, actual practice Politics: ideologies and traditions *When discussing penal policy, we are discussing the state imposing pain on people – and how they legally do this (not saying that this is necessarily wrong) Christie,1994 – criminal justice as ‘pain infliction’ (The delivery of pain, to whom and for what contains an endless line of deep moral questions’) Newburn (2017) Useful introduction to the role that crime has played in UK-US politics over the past 50 years or so; and the way in which penal policy and politics interact. Problematic?

How and why did the ‘first order’ and ‘second order’ bipartisan consensuses on criminal justice emerge?
What is the role and meaning of crime/cj in politics and policy making?
What factors primarily influence changes in penal policy? (^1) Please note that there will be a short delay in this reading available, which should be resolved shortly.

Crime rate: no consistent link between the prison (prison reform trust fact file) population and levels of crime according to the National Audit Office and international comparison shows there is no consistent link between two:

England/Wales: over 50 years risen dramatically
Canada: flatline
Finland: gone up then down
US: radically different (mass incarceration?) *Despite Scotland using community sentencing and being careful with Youth sentencing: still have the highest imprisonment rate in Europe!! Dame Ann Owers (Chief inspector of prisons): ‘visible decline in safety control and expectations of both prisoners and staff in 2010’ Peter Clarke (current Chief inspector or prisons): ‘too many jails plagued by drugs, violence, appalling living conditions and lack of access to meaningful rehabilitative activities’ What might affect penal policy?

Political views or pressures to lower crime rates
The idea of deterrence
The media influences political thinking and can to a certain extent represent the views of other people
Comparison to other jurisdictions, ‘that works there why don’t we do that here’
Money and resources: economy (different political parties will allocate certain budgets to particular areas) 20,000 police officers (Chief of Met: all good getting 20k police but you need mental health workers because you will find that the police will be relied upon for other things) and probation
Demographics
Research: science and knowledge IPP (imprisoner public protection) sentence: Newburn briefly discusses  Sentence targeted at dangerous offenders in ENG WAL 2003  Second order bipartisan consensus: tougher on crime  Big focus on the idea of ‘risk’ and protect people from the future First Order bipartisan consensus (Low key and not thought about in elections many decades where crime will go up and down, not a lot that organisations can do – let’s keep the public out e.g.)  Conservative manifesto  Privatisation and mannerism Second Order bipartisan consensus (two parties agreeing)  stress the importance of punishment and deterrence  crime is an electoral issue (how your views are displaced will affect your votes) Interesting dynamic of how it is a priority *limits government spending because it is an electoral issue, reduce expenses on prisons or go to public and increase tax (difficult to ask because traditional outlook it to lock them up and don’t want to spend money on educating/reforming them)

tough on immigration etc) … consumerism and customers to drive the economy Way to explain the policy transfer – some people say cultural shift. Strong ‘diffusion thesis’; deep economic changes are relevant e.g. large industries in western national and increase mobility and travel (immigration) and this is about political US thinkers and trying to reshape CJ in their image and make money from it due to privatisation. Take into account what policy makers are doing

How does the idea of ‘the stranger’ help to explain Melossi et al’s argument about the role of translation in penal policy change? (p9-10) Further Reading These will be provided for each seminar. They can play a number of roles: they can help to deepen your learning; they might provide a different perspective on the issues we cover, which you might find more accessible; and they also point you towards further literature which will be an obvious starting point for gathering further literature to draw upon for the summative assignment.  Morgan and Smith, ‘Delivering More with Less: Austerity and the politics of law and order’ in Liebling, Maruna and McAra (eds, 2017) Oxford Handbook of Criminology (6th^ edition) Oxford: Oxford University Press [20 copies available in Hartley library]  You should check for the latest Prison Reform Trust ‘Prison Factfile’ here , for the most up-to-date information on trends in criminal justice  Annison (2018) ‘Politics and Penal Change: Towards an interpretive political analysis of penal policy’ Howard Journal of Crime and Justice 57(3) 302-320^2  Three ‘Crime and Politics’ short papers were published in the British Society of Criminology newsletter recently. Inevitably, they date swiftly, but you might find them interesting to peruse: o Professor Emma Bell: http://www.britsoccrim.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2018/12/BSCN83-Bell.pdf o Professor Steve Farrall and Dr Emily Gray: http://www.britsoccrim.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/BSCN83- Farrall-Gray.pdf o Professor Ian Loader: http://www.britsoccrim.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2018/12/BSCN83-Loader.pdf (^2) You might find the early parts of this article (especially the section ‘Situating an Interpretive Approach’), helpful. In this, I discuss some of the existing approaches to understanding the relationship between politics and penal policy.

Contemporary Penal Policy, Exercises of Law

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