NCJ Number
201098
Date Published
2002
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses the difficulty in scholars’ understanding of New Labor’s crime reduction policies through a focus on the national political level.
Abstract
Under the New Labor, the Home Office has become more open and transparent, as well as more willing to consult in the setting of its research agenda. However, in this chapter, the author argues how it has become increasingly more difficult for scholars to acquire a meaningful understanding of New Labor’s crime reduction policies. It critiques the Home Office’s high modernist version of what is happening in the field of crime reduction under New Labor, and argues for the use of the analytical powers associated with postmodern theorizing to understand the deeper rationalities associated with New Labor’s commitment to using community as a category and mode of governance. It begins with a discussion on the 3-year Crime Reduction Program which is intended to reverse the long-term growth rate in crime and its contribution to a better understanding of what works, where, and in what circumstances. The chapter continues with the irrationalities’ ensuing from the hyper-politicalization of national law and order politics, the governmental rationalities associated with New Labor’s rediscovery of community, strengthening the family, and rebuilding safe and active communities. The chapter concludes with three challenges: (1) to loosen the grip of what works and teach students that what works reflects an outcome of particular discursive practices; (2) to explore how the hyper-politicization of law and order in the United Kingdom complicates the ability to provide a convincing version of the national policymaking and policy implementation process; and (3) to advance theorizing the little crevices where crime prevention and community safety are and are not being performed in numerous ways. References