Crime and Social Policy

Over the last three decades, crime policy has been increasingly dominated by attention to the reformation of the individual offender and their ownership of responsibility, with less attention paid to the social causes of crime.  More recent research has returned to an examination of the social causes of crime, with a specific focus on the social context of offending and rehabilitation. Crime and Social Policy studies the critical relationship between social policy and crime management through an in–depth review of current trends, and a look at the potential contribution of social policy initiatives to both crime causation and cessation. Particular attention is paid to existing social policy trends and their impact on crime causation, crime rates, and crime management. The text also researches the role social policy can play in promoting more effective reintegration of offenders into the community, its role in promoting social capital and the creation of positive networks to prevent reoffending. Throughout the text, contributors include a range of illuminating case studies highlighting the impact of social policies on offenders, and draw on recent empirical research ranging from youth crime, anti–social behaviour, ‘problematic families’, and social security fraud.

List of Contributors vii Introduction 1 Hazel Kemshall 1 An International Crime Decline: Lessons for Social Welfare Crime Policy? 5 Paul Knepper 2 Advise, Assist and Befriend: Can Probation Supervision Support Desistance? 23 Deirdre Healy 3 The Relational Context of Desistance: Some Implications and Opportunities for Social Policy 41 Beth Weaver 4 ‘Regulating the Poor’: Observations on the ‘Structural Coupling’ of Welfare, Criminal Justice and the Voluntary Sector in a ‘Big Society’ 59 John J. Rodger 5 What Prospects Youth Justice? Children in Trouble in the Age of Austerity 77 Joe Yates 6 Bleak Times for Children? The Anti–social Behaviour Agenda and the Criminalization of Social Policy 93 Janet Jamieson 7 Social Citizenship and Social Security Fraud in the UK and Australia 111 Gráinne McKeever Index 129

Hazel Kemshall is Professor of Community and Criminal Justice at De Montfort University. She has completed research for the Economic and Social Research Council, the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, the Scottish Government, and the Risk Management Authority. She has over 50 publications on risk, including Understanding Risk in Criminal Justice (2003), and Understanding the Community Management of High Risk Offenders (2008). She is the author of the Home Office risk training materials for social workers and the Scottish Executive materials for social workers.