Crime and Social Policy

136 Pages·2013·3.259 MB·English

by  Hazel Kemshall

Crime and Social Policy
Broadening Perspectives on Social Policy
Series Editor: Bent Greve
The object of this series, in this age of re-thinking on social welfare, is to bring
fresh points of view and to attract fresh audiences to the mainstream of social
policy debate.
The choice of themes is designed to feature issues of major interest and
concern, such are already stretching the boundaries of social policy.
This is the sixteenth collection of papers in the series. Previous volumes include:
• The Times They Are Changing? Crisis and the Welfare State B. Greve
• Reforming Long-term Care in Europe J. Costa-Font
• Choice: Challenges and Perspectives for the European Welfare States
B. Greve
• Living in Dangerous Times: Fear, Insecurity, Risk and Social Policy
D. Denney
• Reforming the Bismarckian Welfare Systems B. Palier and C. Martin
• Challenging Welfare Issues in the Global Countryside G. Giarchi
• Migration, Immigration and Social Policy C. Jones Finer
• Overstretched: European Families Up Against The Demands of Work and
Care T. Kröger and J. Sipilä
• Making a European Welfare State?: Convergences and Conflicts over
European Social Policy P. Taylor-Gooby
• The Welfare of Food: Rights and Responsibilities in a Changing World
E. Dowler and C. Jones Finer
• Environmental Issues and Social Welfare M. Cahill and T. Fitzpatrick
• The Business of Research: Issues of Policy and Practice C. Jones Finer and
G. Lewando Hundt
• New Risks, New Welfare: Signposts for Social Policy N. Manning and I. Shaw
• Transnational Social Policy C. Jones Finer
• Crime & Social Exclusion C. Jones Finer and M. Nellis
Crime and Social Policy
Edited by
Hazel Kemshall
A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication
This edition first published 2013
Originally published as Volume 46, Issue 4 of Social Policy & Administration
Chapters © 2013 The Authors
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crime and social policy / edited by Hazel Kemshall.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-118-50989-0 (pbk.)
1. Crime. 2. Crime–Sociological aspects. 3. Crime–Government
policy. 4. Social policy. I. Kemshall, Hazel, 1958–
HV6025.C7125 2013
364–dc23
2012035902
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover design by Design Deluxe.
Set in 10.5 on 11 pt Baskerville MT by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited
1 2013
CONTENTS
List of Contributors vii
Introduction 1
Hazel Kemshall
1 An International Crime Decline: Lessons for Social Welfare
Crime Policy? 5
Paul Knepper
2 Advise, Assist and Befriend: Can Probation Supervision
Support Desistance? 23
Deirdre Healy
3 The Relational Context of Desistance: Some Implications and
Opportunities for Social Policy 41
Beth Weaver
4 ‘Regulating the Poor’: Observations on the ‘Structural Coupling’
of Welfare, Criminal Justice and the Voluntary Sector in a
‘Big Society’ 59
John J. Rodger
5 What Prospects Youth Justice? Children in Trouble in the Age
of Austerity 77
Joe Yates
6 Bleak Times for Children? The Anti-social Behaviour Agenda
and the Criminalization of Social Policy 93
Janet Jamieson
7 Social Citizenship and Social Security Fraud in the UK
and Australia 111
Gráinne McKeever
Index 129
List of Contributors
Deirdre Healy is Research Fellow, Institute of Criminology, University College
Dublin, Ireland.
Janet Jamieson is Senior Lecturer and Head of Criminology, Liverpool John
Moores University, UK.
Hazel Kemshall is Research Professor, Community and Criminal Justice
Division, De Montfort University, UK.
Paul Knepper is Reader in Criminology, Department of Sociological Studies,
Sheffield University, UK.
Gráinne McKeever is Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Ulster, UK.
John J. Rodger is Reader in Social Policy and Sociology, University of the
West of Scotland, UK.
Beth Weaver is Lecturer, Social Work, University of Strathclyde, UK.
Joe Yates is School Director, School of Humanities and Social Science,
Liverpool John Moores University, UK.
Introduction
spol_8371..4
Hazel Kemshall
Thisspecialissuepresentsatimelyfocusoncrimeandsocialpolicy,particularly
as governmental spending on both crime management and social policy is
being significantly reduced in most Western societies as one response to the
post-2008 global financial crisis. Despite relatively high spending on welfare
sincethe1970s,Westernsocietieshavebeenrestructuringtheir‘welfarearchi-
tecture’(Esping-Andersen2002),creatingsocialinvestmentstates(Jessop2002)
populatedbyactivecitizensresponsiblefortheirownwelfare.Aconsequence
has been the retrenchment of welfare and the increased responsibilisation of
citizens,includingoffenders,fortheirownactionsandfutures(Kemshall2002).
Afurtherdiscernibletrendhasbeentheincreasedcriminalizingtendencyand
netwideningofsocialpolicy(Rodger2000),withparticularpolicyattentionon
theregulationofthefamilyandthesocialcontrolof‘riskyyouth’.
In this special issue, Rodgers analyses the relationship between crime and
social policy in the context of a post-industrial world and within a climate of
severeglobaleconomicchallenge.Hearguesthattheroleofthewelfarestate
has become increasingly contradictory as the boundaries between its social
control and social support functions blur, resulting in states ‘governing
throughcrime’(Simon2007).Rodgerdemonstratesthatthecriminalizationof
social policy can be observed in a range of policy fields including housing,
family policy, community development and, crucially, youth policy. Social
policiesaredesignedlessfortheirsocialjusticeaimsandmorefortheirsocial
control and criminal justice objectives. Net widening of the criminal justice
gaze can be observed as poor households and poor children are targeted for
surveillanceandpunitivecontrol.Rodgerexaminesbothrecentandemerging
policy strategies, including those emerging under the UK coalition govern-
ment. His analysis casts new light on the emerging policy relationships
betweenthewelfaresystem,thecriminaljusticesystemandcivilsocietywith
application to a range of Western societies.
Jamieson and Yates in their articles draw on detailed empirical studies
to focus on the increasing criminalization of youth, particularly ‘troubled
youth’. Jamieson for example argues that the ‘anti-social behaviour’ (ASB)
agendaresonateswiththestate’sbroaderagendaofresponsibilisationandthe
inculcation of duties and obligations into the ‘law abiding citizen’. However,
data from an in-depth study of the application of ASB powers demonstrates
theperverseoutcomesofsuchextensionsofthecriminalizationnet,including
CrimeandSocialPolicy,FirstEdition.EditedbyHazelKemshall.Chapters©2013TheAuthors.
Bookcompilation©2013BlackwellPublishingLtd.
HazelKemshall
increased exclusion and marginalization of ‘troubled youth’. Whilst focused
onEnglandandWales,heroverallconclusionthatincreasedpolicyattention
to security in the age of austerity is likely to increase the criminalization of
childrenhasresonanceacrossalltheWesterncountriesstrugglingwithdisaf-
fectedandunemployedyouth.Yatesadoptsabroaderview,withafirmfocus
on current policies in the age of austerity and the likely impact on youth in
marginalized and deprived communities. His focus is on the impact of
retrenchment, but also interestingly the increased focus in social and crime
policy on payment by results. He examines the potential for payment by
resultstoincreasemarginalizationandcriminalitybecausechallenging‘cases’
are literally sidelined, and implementation attention is only given to ‘cases’
considered to be a good bet for success and hence payment. He critically
examines the ‘marketization’ of youth justice provision, and expresses deep
concernsabouttheemergingtradeinyouthtroubles–anagendathatislikely
to spread across the Anglophone countries.
More recent criminological research, and to a lesser extent policy, has
returnedtothesocialcausesofcrime,withrenewedinterestinwhathasbeen
broadlytermed‘socialrehabilitation’(RobinsonandCrow2009).Inbrief,this
approach focuses on the social context of offending and rehabilitation, and
drawsattentiontothesocialopportunitiesthatcreateroutestodesistanceand
rehabilitation for offenders. This social context is complex, comprising a
number of factors that may both precipitate offending and conversely create
and support resilience to offending – for example housing/accommodation,
employment,education,training,drugtreatment–thosefactorsmostassoci-
ated with effective ‘resettlement’. Their importance to desistance has been
recognized in England and Wales in the Home Office policy construct of
‘resettlementpathways’(HomeOffice2004)andtheHMIPrisonandProba-
tion report Through the Prison Gate (HMIP and P 2001). However, this social
contextalsocomprisesmoresubtlerelationalcomponents,suchasfamilylife,
partners,‘embeddedness’incommunitylife,andtheachievementandmain-
tenanceofanon-offendingpersonalandsocialidentity(Maruna2001).Policy
responseshavealsobeenlimitedintheirambitionandscope,narrowlyfocus-
ing on resettlement issues, with little attention to broader structural issues
around social exclusion. This has been exemplified in both UK and USA
policydevelopmentsandpracticeresponses(seeRobinsonandCrow2009for
a full discussion).
In this issue, Healy for example argues that an important step on the
journeytowardsdesistanceinvolvesthereintegrationofex-offendersintotheir
communities. In order to desist fully, individuals must gain access to new
social resources, overcome existing problems and ‘knife off’ their criminal
pasts.However,manyex-offenderscontinuetoexperiencehighlevelsofsocial
marginalization and low levels of life success at least when measured using
conventionalindicators.Appropriatesocialpoliciescanencouragedesistance
andimprovethelifechancesofex-offenders,forexamplebyincreasingtheir
social and human capital or addressing obstacles to change. Interestingly,
Healy’s study is located within the Irish Probation Service, a criminal justice
servicelargelyuntouchedbythenewpenologyandcurrenttrendsofrespon-
sibilisation.Withinastilllargelywelfare-orientedservice,Healy’sprospective
2
Introduction
study of desistance examines the extent to which probation policy and prac-
tice support the desistance process, set within the broader context of Irish
austerity measures post the 2008 financial collapse.
This is complemented by Weaver’s in-depth study of desistance with a
focusontherelationalcontextofdesistanceandthekeyroleofsocialsupports
inpromotingacrime-freelife.Weaverfocusesonthosesocialpolicieslikelyto
facilitateorhinderdesistance,andconsidershowsocialandpenalpolicycould
assistin‘generating,developingandsustainingthekindsofsocialcapitaland
reflexive, relational networks relevant to desistance’.
In a comparative study of social security fraud provisions in the UK and
Australia,McKeeverexamineshowsocialsecurityfraudillustratesthecrime/
social policy nexus by focusing on the erosion of citizenship for those con-
victed of social security fraud. Her argument is placed within a broader
contention that the current delineation of social citizenship within an exclu-
sive market-based model is problematic, and that the notion of citizenship
requires reconstruction if it is to realize its full potential for inclusivity. At
present, those convicted of fraud are presented as citizens who deserve to
forfeittheirrighttocitizenship,andthispermeatestoallclaimants,challeng-
ingnotonlytherighttoclaim,butrightstocitizenshipofallwhocometorely
onstatesocialsecuritysystems.Giventherisingnumberslikelytofallintothe
welfarenetastheglobalfinancialcrisistakeshold,thisisaserioussocialpolicy
as well as a crime issue.
Finally, Knepper’s important article raises a fundamental question. What
should governments do next given that crime rates have declined in Europe
andNorthAmericaoverthelasttwodecades?Interestingly,Knepperexam-
ines a range of potential reasons for international crime reduction, and
poses the important question as to whether intended policies have the nec-
essary intended impacts, and whether social and crime policies have mea-
surableimpactsoncrimecausationandcrimereduction.Thattheymaynot
is a challenging but important contention, as is the possibility that impacts
may be unintended and unplanned. Knepper also contrasts the drop in
crime rates to the almost constant government preoccupation with ‘high
crime politics’, resulting in a perverse focus on ‘combating crime’ even as
crime rates fall. This is perhaps the most critical point. Crime is political,
and crime policies are often highly politicized. In the new age of austerity,
it will be interesting to see whether ‘high crime politics’ continues, or
whether austerity presents an opportunity to re-evaluate policy responses to
crime. As cutbacks bite, the policy choices may become quite stark between
policies of inclusion, rehabilitation and desistance; or policies of exclusion,
marginalization and control.
References
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Esping-Andersen etal. (eds), Why We Need a New Welfare State, Oxford: Oxford
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HerMajesty’sInspectoratesofPrisonandProbation(HMIPandP)(2001),Throughthe
PrisonGate:AJointThematicReviewbyHMInspectoratesofPrisonandProbation,London:
3
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HMI Prison and Probation, http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/
inspectorate-reports/hmipris/prison-gate-rps.pdf(accessed13December2011).
Home Office (2004), National Reducing Reoffending Action Plan, London: Home Office,
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