Not so ‘Smart Justice’
| Author | Nicola Carr |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550519887000 |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editorial
Not so ‘Smart Justice’
The politics of law and order have firmly re-entered the agenda, as political parties
in the United Kingdom prepare the ground for a general election. The Conservative
party, which had previously spoken of the need for ‘Smarter Justice’, involving a
shift away from prison towards the more effective use of community sentences (MoJ,
2019), has now pivoted towards a harder line approach. This includes commit-
ments made in the recent Queen’s Speech to parliament to increase the number of
prison spaces by 10,000 in a country (England and Wales), with one of the highest
rates of imprisonment in Europe, and to change the rules regarding the release of
violent and sexual offenders, requiring them to spend longer in prison before being
considered eligible for release.
The fact that prisons show no demonstrable effects in reducing offending, in fact
quite the opposite, and that there is clear evidence of a prison system operating well
beyond capacity does not seem to matter in the reach for a headline. Several critics
have decried the proposals pointing out the incorrect portrayal of a ‘soft’ sentencing
regime, and the current dire state of prisons. The number of deaths by suicide in
prisons are at alarming levels and in October 2019, a baby died in the United
Kingdom’s largest women’s prison after a woman gave birth alone in her cell.
1
It is
hard to see what more examples of a system that is failing are needed, but yet it feels
that we are winding back the clock to the era when a former Home Secretary,
Michael Howard, famously said that ‘prisons work’, despite overwhelming evi-
dence to the contrary. One newspaper aptly described the Conservative party’s law
and order position as ‘punitive, retro, rhetoric.’
2
Of course, whether the legislative programme outlined in the Queen’s speech is
actually implemented remains a moot point, given that at the time of writing there is
a minority government in the Westminster parliament, and Brexit still consumes the
body politic. Brexit has raised profound questions, and the fact that ‘law and order’
issues are now being mobilised in an appeal to voters and to move the agenda on
from Brexit calls to mind David Garland’s (1996) famous argument about the
politicisation of crime control in the context of the limits of state sovereignty. Put
simply, a reach towards punitive policies, intended as a symbol of the strength of
government, is actually more of an indicator of its weakness.
At the same time that imprisonment makes a political resurgence, plans to
‘Strengthen Probation’ in England and Wales continue apace. The integration of
‘offender management’ services are due to occur towards the end of 2020, with the
Probation Journal
2019, Vol. 66(4) 395–397
ªThe Author(s) 2019
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550519887000
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The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
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