Book review: Media, Politics and Penal Reform: Influencing Women’s Imprisonment
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550517752750 |
| Published date | 01 March 2018 |
| Date | 01 March 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
Book reviews
Book reviews
Media, Politics and Penal Reform: Influencing
Women’s Imprisonment
Gemma Birkett
Palgrave Macmillan; 2017; pp. 216; £74.50; hbk
ISBN: 978-1137585080
Reviewed by: Emma Wincup, Senior Lecturer, University of Leeds
Focused specifically on women’s imprisonment, Media, Politics and Penal Reform
offers a fascinating insight into penal policy-making at a national level. Influenced
by the author’s previous professional career as a researcher in Parliament, the book
draws upon the findings of an empirical research project based upon interviews
with 35 policy-makers working around Westminster and Whitehall. Criminologists
have devoted their efforts to looking at policy implementation and have infrequently
explored how policies are developed. Consequently, Birkett makes a significant
contribution to our understanding of criminal justice.
The book covers the period from 2010 to 2015, when the Conservative-Liberal
Democrat Coalition government were in power, with the majority of the fieldwork
taking place in 2011/2012. The Coalition inherited a policy agenda which was
heavily influenced by Baroness Corston’s review of women with particular vulner-
abilities in the criminal justice system with the sub-title ‘A distinct, radically different,
visibly-led, strategic, proportionate, holistic, woman-centred, integrated approach’
(Corston, 2007: 1). A considered response to a series of tragic deaths of female
prisoners, the Corston report attracted cross-party support – a considerable
achievement given the often contested nature of law-and-order politics. Female
prisoners moved out of the shadows and there was a period of optimism when it
looked possible that more appropriate provision might by established for women.
Unfortunately, as a recent report by Women in Prison (2017) illustrates, insufficient
progress has been made, and this book helps to explain why.
The first substantial chapter, ‘Studying Penal Policy’, provides an overview of the
political science theories Birkett later draws upon. In particular, it introduces King-
don’s multiple policy streams approach which seeks to explain why a policy
agenda becomes influential at a specific period in time. This requires the coalescing
Probation Journal
2018, Vol. 65(1) 105–110
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550517752750
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