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Crime Policy Revision Notes
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Crime Policy revision and lecture notes
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Crime PolicyCrime and Society
- Sociologist Emile Durkheim argues that crime is a universal feature of all societies.
This is because crime serves a vital social function. Through the punishment of
offenders, the moral boundaries of a community are clearly marked out and
attachment to them is reinforced.
- According to Durkheim, the purpose of punishment is not deterrence, rehabilitation
nor retribution. Punishment strengthens social solidarity through the reaffirmation
of moral commitment among the conforming population who witness the suffering
of the offender.
- Durkheim explains that criminal law is a product of a society’s most fundamental
social norms, what he called the conscience collective and should embody, express
and reinforce them
o Examples: Dutch tolerance of drugs and prostitution, Austrian intolerance of
Holocaust denial, and some Muslim countries’ unwillingness to tolerate
certain ‘nontraditional’ lifestyles are outgrowths of deeply embedded cultural
norms, regardless of how much outsiders may disagree with them.
- He also notes: “Crime implies not only that the way remains open to necessary
changes but that in certain cases it directly prepares these changes. Where crime
exists, collective sentiments are sufficiently flexible to take on a new form and crime
sometimes helps to determine the form they will take. How many times, indeed, it is
only an anticipation of future morality―a step toward what will be!” ([1895] 1964,
71).
Social Policy
- Social policy is concerned with the ways societies across the world meet human
needs for security, education, work, health and wellbeing. It consists of guidelines,
principles, legislation and activities that affect the living conditions conducive to
human welfare.
- It gained prominence during the 20th century when the rapid expansion of key public
services prompted interest in the emerging ‘welfare state’
Crime Policy
- The range of measures adopted to fight crime
- Research about possible new effective measures to fight crime
- Crime policy does not coincide with penal policy: it is broader for it does not only
consider and rely on penal measures – crime policy encompasses and considers non-
penal measures too
- The term ‘crime policy’ refers to the plan of actions developed at the policy level
concerned with crime, including how to respond to it. In other words, crime policy
deals with the development of a system of effective measures aimed at preventing
or failing to do so containing criminal behaviour understood as a social
phenomenon.
- Crime policy ≠ penal policy
, o Crime policy encompasses penal policy and has a broader scope and includes
tools that go well beyond penal sanctions.
- German criminologist Franz von Liszt stated over 100 years ago that ‘social policy
represents the best and most effective crime policy’
o Underlying assumption = social policies promoting general public welfare will
lead to lower crime rates, reducing the need for another set of policies
distinctly directed towards crime control.
o With the rise of welfare states in western Europe, the roots of the crime
problem were seen as embedded in social structures; hence the solution to
crime was to decrease inequalities and poverty with comprehensive and
inclusive welfare policies
The concept of crime policy
- The separation between criminology only took place in the 1950s
- Criminology examines crime policy as a social phenomenon empirically.
- The task of crime policy is to develop the set of tools for crime prevention, to identify
the forms of behaviour to be sanctioned and the types of the sanctions, as well as to
establish the institutions suitable for avoiding or mitigating the damages caused by
the crimes
- These objectives may be realized by the crime policy in different ways, with criminal
law representing the extrema ratio (last resort)
- Criminology provides empirical insights on a certain issue or problem
- Those insights shape Crime Policy, that is the set of ideas and plans relating to crime
used as a basis for making decisions
- When such ideas and plans involve punishment, we are in the realm of Penal Policy
- Such ideas are eventually translated into Criminal Law
Penal Policy
- Penal policy deals with the social phenomenon of crime by means of penal measures
- In recent decades, crime policy has been gradually eroded by penal policy
- Notion that the government’s primary responsibility is social control rather than
social welfare. This shift has, in turn, been facilitated by the construction of the poor
as dangerous and undeserving
o Over-criminalization and over-punishment
Over-crim = the overuse and abuse of criminal law to address every
societal problem
Over-punishment = the imposition of excessive punishment or
sentences without adequate justification
o Penal excess
Penal excess is a term that captures the over-use of harmful aspects
of criminal justice policy and practice
Indicates the invasion of criminal justice ethos and measures into
social policy
Innovation that leads to a criminal justice system way more punitive
and invasive than it was in the past
, o Neoliberal penalty
Neoliberal policies of economic deregulation and social welfare
retrenchment
Rise of the penal following the demise of the demise of the welfare
state
Punishment escalated not to solve the problem of crime but to solve
the problem of social insecurity produced by a newly precarious
economy devoid of a supportive welfare state
Crime policy may be less related to the goals of crime reduction than
to the management of poor and other marginalized populations
Policy making and experts
- Elitist model: politicians and the people play a limited role in shaping institutions of
crime policy and punishment; bureaucratic and professional elites are the trusted,
dominant players in the field
- Populist model: governments consult ordinary people, especially those living in areas
undermined by crime and disorder, before formulating and implementing policies to
tackle crime
Understanding Developments in Crime Policy and Penal Change
- What is a policy? a policy is a defined course of action that helps guide decisions
to address a specific issue
- Russian doll metaphor biggest doll = social policy which involves crime policy
which involves penal policy
o Social policy = is concerned with the ways societies across the world meet
human needs for security, education, work, health and wellbeing
o Crime policy = is concerned with the range of measures adopted to prevent
and fight against crime. It does not coincide with penal policy – broader than
penal policy
o Penal policy = deals with the social phenomenon of crime by means of penal
measures – criminalization and punishment
- Notion that the government’s primary responsibility is social control rather than
social welfare.
- Constant struggle vs swinging pendulum
o Main misconception about crime policy = change happens quickly/ overnight
o Agonistic perspective Change in crime policy is understood better as a
constant struggle with varying amount of resources
o Change does not happen overnight and suddenly. Crime control and
punishment periodically escalates to seismic events and long-term shifts in
policy orientations
o Crime policymaking often adopts realpolitik approach to problems
This approach is based primarily on practical considerations of given
circumstances and factors rather than explicit ideological notions or
moral and ethical premises
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