Introduction: Labour's crime policy in context

Abstract

There is a tendency to construe both ‘crime’ and ‘crime policy’ in very narrow terms. Hence, crime policy is often regarded as being mainly about the prevention, through penal measures, of an unrepresentative range of offences. A progressive crime policy would be informed by a broader conception of crime, would include ‘social’ methods of crime reduction, and would pursue a wider range of goals including: doing justice, protecting the welfare of offenders, empowering victims, and reducing imprisonment and criminalisation. The Conservatives in office disseminated a narrow conception of the crime problem, which they addressed through a narrow ‘tough sentencing’ policy. In assessing Labour's crime policy we ask, not whether it is achieving more efficiently the goals pursued by the Conservatives, but whether it is developing a broader and more progressive vision of crime and crime policy. Labour's core concerns in this field‐ embodied in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998‐ are to prevent offending by young people, to create a safer society, and to speed up criminal justice. In some respects, Labour has continued the ‘tough on crime’ approach of its predecessor. In other respects, it is forming a different, arguably more progressive, strategy. Labour is aware that severe penal measures will not in themselves reduce crime unless accompanied by socio‐economic reforms. We suggest, however, that Labour's vision of crime policy remains insufficiently radical. To explore these issues in depth, we organised a conference at the University of Hull. Leading criminal justice academics, professionals, and politicians examined Labour's crime policy after one year in office. The main themes emerging from these papers (published in this volume) are reviewed.

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