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Informing Public Policy What are the Needs of the Policy Process David Faulkner

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The White Paper Penal Practice in a Changing Society (Cmnd 645) The foundation of the Cambridge Institute of Criminology ... Forensic science. Police records ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Informing Public Policy What are the Needs of the Policy Process David Faulkner


1
Informing Public PolicyWhat are the Needs of
the Policy Process?David Faulkner
2
  • This year is the 50th anniversary of
  • The White Paper Penal Practice in a Changing
    Society (Cmnd 645)
  • The foundation of the Cambridge Institute of
    Criminology
  • Power to fund research already in the Criminal
    Justice Act, 1948
  • Hermann Mannheim already at LSE, Max Grunhut in
    Oxford.
  • Home Office Research Unit formed in 1957.

3
  • First formal recognition that policy in criminal
    justice needs to be informed by research
  • ..a fundamental re-examination of penal
  • methods, based on studies of the causes
  • of crime in this field research is as
  • essential as it is in the fields of science
    and
  • technology
  • The beginning of criminology as a recognised
    academic discipline.

4
  • Relationship began well.
  • Became more uneasy as time went on.
  • Unresolved questions
  • How much can criminology contribute to policy?
  • How much should criminologists even try?
  • Belief that science would solve the worlds
    problems.
  • Government thought research could find a cure
    forcrime.

5
  • Medical or treatment model, including
  • Research-based policies for the assessment,
    treatment and rehabilitation of offenders
  • A programme for building new prisons including
    special remand and observation centres
  • Psychiatric prisons
  • Refinement and extension of borstal training.

6
  • Similar belief in science and technology for the
    police
  • Patrol cars
  • Radios
  • Detection methods
  • Forensic science
  • Police records
  • Reduce response times, increase detection rates
    and so reduce crime.
  • Not much attention to social aspects of
    policing and police culture

7
  • Home Office in 1959 a confident place
  • Disillusion came quite quickly
  • Mannheim-Wilkins
  • Blake and Mountbatten
  • Disasters at Risley and Holloway,
  • Grendon a success
  • Brodie and later work on the effectiveness
  • of sentencing
  • Martinson and nothing works
  • Alienation of the police withdrawal from
  • streets and communities

8
  • Review of Criminal Justice Policy 1976 much less
    confident
  • By 1979
  • Prisons and police in crisis
  • Disputes over pay and conditions
  • Escapes and disorder in prisons
  • Irregularities in the police
  • Corruption in the Metropolitan Police
  • Inquiries and a Royal Commission
  • Research didnt seem to have much to contribute.

9
  • 1980s - A different direction, new subjects for
    research.
  • Managing the system Efficiency, Economy,
    Effectiveness
  • Crime prevention - broken windows, community
    involvement
  • Policing
  • Race
  • Victims
  • British Crime Survey
  • Doing things properly, making things work
  • Criminal Justice A Working Paper Home Office,
    1984 and 1986.

10
  • More difficult relationship with Ministers.
  • Things they would rather not hear
  • Evidence of racism
  • Ineffectiveness of sentencing
  • Ineffectiveness of police patrols
  • Prevalence of offending among young men
  • Small proportion of crime that comes to court
  • Offenders and victims often the same people
  • A lot of research results counter-intuitive,
    awkward to handle in the media.
  • Dangerous liberals

11
  • Revival of interest after 1997, to
  • Support New Labours evidence-based policy
  • Demonstrate success
  • Develop detection, risk assessment and offender
    management
  • Support new technology
  • Resembles the belief in science 50 years ago,
    except where a political imperative makes science
    irrelevant.
  • Risks similar disillusion.

12
  • Research has provided
  • Practical ideas
  • Evaluation of specific programmes or
  • initiatives
  • Warnings about complexity, uncertainty,
  • variability
  • Awareness of limitations, danger of
  • unrealistic expectations
  • Insights into the systems dynamics and
  • relationships, whats going on.

13
  • And beyond that
  • An intellectual hinterland,
  • A frame of reference
  • A community of ideas
  • Intellectual honesty
  • A sense of shared values

14
  • Relationships Ministers, civil servants,
  • academics
  • Suspicion of experience and traditional
  • wisdom
  • Lack of interest in the past
  • Loss of departmental memories
  • Loss of elitist sources of advice
  • New political class
  • Role of politically-aligned think-tanks.
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