rationalskepticism.org

What was Mrs Thatcher’s Legacy for Crime and Justice?

Stephen Farrall

Monday, January 26 2015 at 7:30PM

Farm Road Sports & Social Club
Farm Road
Sheffield
South Yorkshire S2 2TP

In what ways do changes in economic and social policies result in changes in patterns of crime, victimisation and anxieties about crime? How do shifts in social values affect national-level experiences and beliefs about crime and appropriate responses to it (such as support for punitive punishments like the death penalty)? What have been the long-term consequences of almost two decades (1979-1997) of neo-conservative and neo-liberal social and economic policies for the UK’s criminal justice system and the general experience of crime amongst its citizens? Similarly, how do changes in the crime rates affect the sorts of social and economic policies pursued?

What lessons does the recent past offer us today, when policy announcements about further cuts to public expenditure are commonplace and economic growth uncertain and faltering? Using the Thatcher and Major governments (1979- 1997) as our case study, our aim during this Economic and Social Research Council-funded project is to explore the experiences of crime, victimisation and fear of crime at the national and regional levels, and for key socio-demographic groups, since the 1970s (and where possible earlier than this).

Recent publications have outlined our thinking with regards to the ways in which ‘Thatcherite’ social and economic policies in one policy domain (e.g. housing) created ‘spill-over’ effects in other policy domains (such as crime).

Stephen Farrall is Professor of Criminology in the School of Law, Sheffield University. He is currently exploring the long term impacts of Thatcherite social and economic policies on crime in England and Wales (funded by the ESRC) and has also researched why people stop offending and the fear of crime.

http://www.shef.ac.uk/law/research/proj ... ajectories

https://twitter.com/Thatcher_legacy