Penal Politics

  1. History
    • shift in consensus in CJ politics
    • post War -insulated from pol debate - bipartisan consensus
    • Thatcher Admin 1979 - breakdown in consensus
    • capitalised widespread fear of ungovernability
    • tough measures with neoliberal pragmatism
  2. 1997 UK General Election
    • Labour shifts to New Right politics
    • "tough on crime, tough of causes of crime"
  3. Populist Punitiveness def
    • Bottoms 1995
    • the pursuit of a set of penal policies to win votes rather than to reduce crime or promote justice
    • electorally advantageous sentiments based on media and public appeal
  4. populist punitiveness feeds on
    • features of late modernity
    • breakdown of community values
    • weak social bonds
    • rise of individualism
    • sense of insecurity
    • = risk adverse society
  5. Culture of Control
    • Garland (2001)
    • Political "acting out" - political reactions have become more pronounced
    • as the conditions of political speech have changed over time
    • eg tough on sentencing
  6. disadvantages of "political acting out"
    • avoids realistic recongition of underlying problems
    • rhetoric prevents rehabiltiative measures 
    • allows governmets to reinforce their legitimacy
  7. Unjustice outcomes - populist punitiveness
    • Bulger murders
    • sensationalist discussions in press resulted in many politicians damning boys "worthless!" "evil"
    • affecting law and order outcomes
    • sentencing decisions
    • rehab faced great public opposition
  8. unjust outcomes - riots
    • 2011
    • gesutural, excessive penal politics
    • condemned by David Cameron "appalling behaviour"
    • "criminality pure and simple"
    • sentences typically 4x longer
    • resulted in 70% more receiving custodial sentences
    • dramatic punitive shift in sentencing
Author
Anonymous
ID
302197
Card Set
Penal Politics
Description
Penal Politics
Updated