Week Twenty Six Flashcards
What is ‘politics’?
From the Greek politikos
Meaning ‘of or relating to, citizens’
Practice and theory of influencing other people on a civic or individual level
Achieving and exercising positions of governance - organised control over a human community
State: a nation or territory considered as an organised political community under on government
‘Nothing works’
Political parties began to blame each other for what was happening - politicisation
1979 General Election – ‘law and order’ strategy
Rooted in our approach to economics, ‘losers’ built-in
Martinson and ‘nothing works’
Analysis of evaluation studies of effectiveness of 12 types of correctional treatment:with few isolated exceptions, the rehabilitative efforts that have been reported so far have had no appreciable effect on recidivism.
Robert Martinson’s ’What works? – Questions and answers about prison reform’ (1976)
Declining Faith in Rehabilitation..
For much of C20 a key aim of responses to crime was to reform the person committing the act
Decreasing belief that this could be done effectively in practice
Growing demands to emphasise punishment
Just deserts
Conservative victory after promising to prioritise ‘law and order’ and blaming Labour for rise in crime
We will restore respect for the law, re-establishing the supremacy of Parliament and giving the right priority to the fight against crime
Whoops…
BUT increase in expenditure on the police did not reduce crime
In fact, the opposite happened; crime increased dramatically
Other measures also proposed
Better crime prevention (e.g. Safer Cities
More flexible, effective sentencing
Tough sentences for violent criminals and ‘thugs’
Remove limits on young adult prison sentences
Magistrates power for secure care orders for juveniles
Compulsory attendance centres for ‘hooligans’
Community service orders
(Unit) fines
Partnerships and prisons…
Managerialism in the criminal justice system – financial indicators, business principles
Centralisation, national standards
Prison numbers did fall (after rising throughout 1980s) but only for a short while
A Pew Foundation (McLeod) report gives the following statistical breakdown of the prison population:
1 in every 11 African-American adults is in jail or prison.
1 in every 27 Hispanic American adults is in jail or prison.
1 in every 45 white American adults is in jail or prison.
Talking tough
Successive neoliberal governments have provided the public with information assuring them that prison is tackling the problem of crime. Prison actually avoids the real issues that cause crime (Wacquant, 2012)
‘Public opinion’ can be complex and contradictory
Prison and punishment used to gain votes (Pratt et al, 2005)
Entrenched dogma, reinforced by media, means a political party not ‘talking tough on crime’ is committing ‘political suicide’ (Newburn and Jones, 2005)
Soundbites
Woolf Report, 1991 (into Strangeways riots) warned conditions in some prisons “no longer tolerable” and that prison population would double from 44,000 to 83,000 by 2008 (Justice, Security and Control)
How did leading politicians respond?
Labour party, in order to be elected, believed they had to be seen to be tougher re. criminal justice
“Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”
Tony Blair (Shadow Home Secretary then leader)
“Let us be clear. Prison works.”
Michael Howard (Home Secretary)
…prisons on top of the agenda
The Report contained 12 general recommendations and 204 supporting proposals. They were signposts which, if followed, would enable the prison service to achieve the appropriate balance between security (preventing escapes), control (preventing disturbances) and justice (that is treating prisoners with humanity and fairness). A balance that would mean that fairness and justice did not stop at the prison door, but instead permeated the whole system. There should be a structure based on compacts. The compacts would set out the respective responsibilities owed between Head Quarters and Prison Governors, Prison Governors and their Prison Officers and Prison Officers and their prisoners. These relationships would be pivotal in establishing a decent, humane penal system worthy of our aspirations as a country.
I am not alone in being worried by these huge figures. In July 2014 the British Academy, one of the two most distinguished academic bodies in the country unusually produced a report on the prison situation by nine extremely eminent academic experts entitled, “A Presumption Against Imprisonment” They explain their reason for advocating the “presumption” in these terms;
“Data show that, over the last two decades, the use of imprisonment as a form of criminal punishment…has risen sharply. What is more, our reliance on imprisonment today is acutely out of line with other comparable Western European countries. We…rely far more heavily than do many other countries on the use of custodial sentences…
“The urgent question, therefore, is whether we need to rely so heavily on imprisonment as a form of punishment. Do we need to imprison so many people, and to do so for such long periods of time? The Report argues that the answer is no.”
Woolf: 25 Years On…
“…the life and work of the Prison Service have, for the last 20 years, been distorted by the problems of overcrowding. That single factor has dominated prisoners’ lives, it has produced often intolerable pressure on the staff, and as a consequence it has soured industrial relations. It has skewed managerial effort and it has diverted managerial effort away from positive developments. The removal of overcrowding is, in my view, an indispensable pre-condition of sustained and universal improvement in prison conditions.”
The problem with overcrowding is that it is very difficult to prevent. So I understand the Government’s reluctance to accept the Report’s recommendation of even a very mild restraint on numbers. I appreciate that Ministers have sort to counter-criticism, by relying on the fact that it is the judges and not the Government who pass sentences. But the Government cannot shift all responsibility in this way.
Penal populism…
3 years of “My party’s tougher than your party”
‘Populist punitiveness’ (Bottoms, 1995)
The notion of politicians tapping into, and using for their own purposes, what they believe to be the public’s generally punitive stance (1995: 40)
Is this the softest judge in Britain? (D.Mail, Jun 2013)
Soft justice as lag’s letter reveals… (D.Mail, Oct 2011)
Sentencing myths (Sentencing Council)
US prison population…
Also a big issue in the U.S. (Bureau of Justice Statistics)
250,000 (1970s) to 2 million+ (today) in prison
Rate of imprisonment incredibly high
For significant time, crime in US was actually decreasing
Prison rate = crime rate?..
According to the National Audit Office, there is no consistent correlation between prison numbers and levels of crime.
Police recorded crime and Crime Survey for England and Wales figures show that crime rates are around a third lower than in 2002-03.
Ministry of Justice (2013) Population and Capacity Briefing for Friday 10 May 2013, London: Ministry of Justice Prison Reform Trust
Prison populations not delivered by the stork but result from political decisions (Rutherford, 1986) not necessarily the levels of crime
The system…
Politicians want us to believe in the system that has elevated them to a position of power, as spokesperson for their community
Perhaps they need us to believe…
The law is fairly constructed and applied
If we break the law, we will be punished
If others break the law, they will be punished
Making laws
Justice Secretary: Grayling…
“Prison is not meant to be a place that people enjoy being in. I don’t [want to] see prisoners in this country sitting in cells watching the Sunday afternoon match on Sky Sports”.
New Justice Secretary Chris Grayling throws some red meat to the Daily Mail. (New Statesman, 20 Sept 2012)
Life will be made harder for criminals in and out of prison to rebuild shattered public confidence in the justice system… (Daily Mail, 19 September 2012)
Secretary of States for Justice…
“Reductions by cap or quota, or by sweeping sentencing cuts are not a magic bullet, they are a dangerous attempt at a quick fix.” (13/2/2017)
“we do have a problem with crowding in some jails”
The Coalition Years…
Eng & Wales, Scotland, N.Ireland Marketisation in Eng & Wales Criminal legal aid PbR in probation Probation Trusts abolished National e-monitoring contract Local PCCs Another Parliament of austerity “CJ reform is a political project shaped by economic, cultural, historical and ideological influences” In each of the 3 jurisdictions (England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland), there were significant changes to policing, punishment and legal aid.
Eng and Wales – developing markets in the operation and delivery of criminal justice services has been central
Scotland – the state, rather than the market, took precedence
Northern Ireland – ambition to build inclusive society free from sectarian trouble
Marketisation in Eng and Wales:
price-competitive tendering for criminal legal aid
Payment-by-results in prison and probation related work
Probation Trusts abolished and contracts to supervise people convicted of breaking the law
Local PCCs responsible for budget decisions
New national contract to deliver electronic monitoring
