Criminology and criminal justice in post-devolution Wales
| Author | Robert Jones |
| Published date | 01 July 2022 |
| Date | 01 July 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1477370820916447 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/
European Journal of Criminology
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1477370820916447
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Criminology and criminal
justice in post-devolution
Wales
Robert Jones
Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, UK
Abstract
This survey provides one of the first comprehensive reviews of Wales’s role in the England and
Wales criminal justice system. The article explains that executive devolution has been responsible
for a major transformation to Wales’s position within the England and Wales jurisdiction.
Attention is given to the institutions responsible for criminal justice since devolution to Wales
as well as an overview of some of the key trends and latest data, including recent research which
shows that Wales, when disaggregated from England, has the highest rate of imprisonment in
Western Europe. In light of the developments that have taken place over the past two decades,
this survey asserts that Wales must now be taken seriously as a distinct and worthwhile unit of
criminological analysis. It is argued that future research on Wales can help to develop a more
constitutionally literate criminological debate across the UK as well as European regions affected
by devolution.
Keywords
Criminal justice, criminology, devolution, Wales, anglocentricity
Introduction
The recent history of the United Kingdom (UK) has been marked by unprecedented
constitutional change. The European Union (EU) referendum in June 2016, and the UK
Government’s subsequent ‘triggering’ of the EU withdrawal process, have only added to
the existing territorial complexities that devolution has brought to the UK (McTavish,
2014; Minto et al., 2016). Ever since the process of executive devolution to Northern
Ireland, Scotland and Wales began in 1999, the asymmetric ‘settlements’ comprising the
UK have been subject to continuous iteration and change. These developments include,
Corresponding author:
Robert Jones, Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, School of Law and Politics, Cardiff,
CF10 3DY, UK.
Email: jonesrd7@cardiff.ac.uk
Article
2022, Vol. 19(4) 811–829
to name but a few, the transfer of further powers to Northern Ireland, an independence
referendum for Scotland in 2014, two new devolution dispensations for Wales and a
referendum granting primary law-making powers to Wales in March 2011, and the intro-
duction of regional devolution to different metropolitan areas of England (most notably
Greater Manchester and London).The governance arrangements for criminal justice in
the UK have been transformed during this period. The re-establishment of the Scottish
Parliament in 1999 gave rise to the re-emergence of a ‘distinctive’ Scottish legal and
criminal justice system (Mooney et al., 2015: 206). Since then, the concepts of ‘detarta-
nization’ (McAra, 2008) and ‘retartanization’ (Mooney et al., 2015) have been used to
gauge the wavering distinctiveness of the Scottish government’s approach to criminal
justice. In Northern Ireland, the transfer of policing and criminal justice powers to
Stormont in 2010 has generated interest in the efforts being made to reform a criminal
justice system in transition from conflict to peace (for example, McAlinden and Dwyer,
2015; O’Mahony, 2012).
In Wales, although powers over policing and criminal justice are reserved to the UK
government in Westminster, the handing over of control for social policy to the Welsh
government has drastically altered its position within the England and Wales system (see
Ministry of Justice, 2017; NOMS et al., 2006; Silk Commission, 2014; Welsh
Government, 2013). Indeed, although the UK government retains formal responsibility
for policing and criminal justice in Wales, ‘much of the work’ being done to support
offenders and to reduce crime is now carried out by the devolved government (Ministry
of Justice, 2014: 8). It is precisely because of these changes, combined with a lack of
criminological research on Wales as well as increasing political interest following a
recent review carried out by the Commission on Justice in Wales,1 that a reappraisal of
its current and future position within the discipline is urgently required.
This survey will begin by historically charting Wales’s role in the England and Wales
jurisdiction before explaining why Wales should now be taken seriously as a distinct unit
of criminological analysis. The institutions responsible for criminal justice are then
described, as well as an overview of some of the key developments and trends, including
recent research which shows that Wales, when disaggregated from England, has the
highest rate of imprisonment in Western Europe. The final section considers the chal-
lenges faced by criminologists seeking to overcome the dominance of a Westminster-
centric criminology as well as the political debate surrounding the Welsh context. Taken
together, the arguments presented in this article provide one of the very first accounts of
criminal justice in post-devolution Wales and challenge the assumption that there exists
a uniform ‘England and Wales’ system. In doing so, the article set outs the trajectory for
a criminological research agenda on Wales that could contribute to a more constitution-
ally literate criminological debate across the UK as well as European regions affected by
devolution.
England and Wales: No difference to speak of?
The England and Wales system dates back to the 16th century and the passing of the
Laws of Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The aims behind the laws, as stated within the pre-
amble to the 1535 Act, were to legally incorporate Wales into England. By successfully
812 European Journal of Criminology 19(4)
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