Full Description
This book explores the impact of right-wing political ideology on crime, the criminal justice system, and attitudes towards punishment in Britain. Grounded in a rigorous analysis of repeated cross-sectional surveys such as the British Social Attitudes Survey and the British Crime Survey, as well as individual-level cohort data such as the 1958 National Child Development Study and the 1970 British Cohort Study, it examines changes in long-term crime rates, criminal justice policies, and their integration with social and economic policies in Britain over four decades. It offers a detailed discussion of how radical social and economic changes affected the fear of crime and attitudes to punishment, and how well Thatcherite social and economic values were embedded in contemporary British society. Drawing on a wide literature across criminology, political science, sociology, and social policy, this book demonstrates how a thorough understanding of crime cannot take place without an examination of the wider social policies enacted, the life-courses of the individuals affected, and their communities and the political environment in which they live. It is essential reading for criminologists, sociologists, political philosophers, and social theorists alike since it combines thinking from political sciences, life-courses theories, and detailed analyses of the outcomes of social policy change.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY)] 4.0 license.
Contents
Part I Chapter 1. Re-Imagining the Study of the Politics of Crime Chapter 2. Linking Crime, Political Legacies, and the Life-Course Perspective Chapter 3. Thatcherism and the Reshaping of Policy Consensus in Britain (1979-1997) Part II Chapter 4. Social Welfare, Housing Policies and Changes in The Social Locations of Crime Chapter 5. Economic Restructuring, Truancy from School, and Engagement in Crime over the Life-Course Chapter 6. What does Radical Social and Economic Change do to Popular Opinions on Crime? Chapter 7. Reconfiguring the Structure of Criminal Justice Chapter 8. The spatial and temporal development of British prisons from 1901 to the present: The role of de-industrialisation (with Philip Mike Jones) Part III Chapter 9. Conclusion: Crime - A Relational Understanding of Individuals, Institutions, and Ideology
