1. Law & Order

2. Law & Order
• Syllabus requirements:
• Broad outline of Thatcherite ideology & policy
• Focus should be on post 1997
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Key Debates:
How far are the main UK political parties
divided over law and order policy?
How successful have governments been at
tackling law and order issues?
Are law and order policies increasingly
encroaching on civil liberties?

3. Liberal view
• Optimistic view
– Criminals have become bad due to pure social
conditions and are often forced into a life of crime.
– Breakdown of law & order consequence of divisions in
society
– Concerned with the erosion of civil liberties (critical of
police powers – agents of the state who favour the
rich & powerful)
– Prefer rehabilitation to incarceration
– De-classify soft drugs would be a policy

4. Authoritarians
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Pessimistic view of human nature
Prefer incarceration to rehabilitation
Criminals should be responsible for their actions
Crime has nothing to do with society
They blame the upper middle class ‘do-gooders’ for
creating an ‘excuse culture’ and for showing more
empathy for criminals rather than victims
– See liberals as too soft on crime

5. Conservative approach to Law & Order
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Traditionally seen as the party of Law & Order
Prison works, more power to the police
Crime is due to lack of moral responsibility
Family is to blame (what is right & wrong
should be taught by parents)
• Core beliefs:
– Punishment should be severe
– Criminals are responsible for their actions

6. Labour’s approach to Law & Order
• Connection between poor living & crime
• Solution?
– Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime
(Blairs 1994 policy)
– a mixture of authoritarian and liberal approach
since 1997

7. Conservative approach 1979-97
• 1982 – ‘Short, Sharp Shock’ approach to
young offenders –
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‘Youths were interned in army-style boot camps, where they were subjected
to a strict disciplinary regime in an attempt to change their behaviour.’
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1984 –
1985 –
1993 –
1994 –
Police & Criminal Evidence Act
Govt 'wins' the miners strike
Record number of offences recorded
Criminal Justice & Public Order Act

8. Labour 1979-97
• 1979 • 1983 & 87 –
• 1992 -
• 1992 • 1993 • 1997 -
Jump to the left
Liberal approach rejected at the
polls
Labours manifesto had one
paragraph on Law & Order
Blair appointed Home Secretary
He transforms policy on Law &
Order
Main party policies on Law &
Order are almost indistinguishable

9. 2005 General election (Michael Howard)
– 5,000 extra police officers
– 20,000 extra prison places
– Scrap early release programme
– Create a dept of homeland security
– Reform the HRA (replace with a US style Bill of
Rights)

10. 2005 General election (Tony Blair)
• UK style FBI to tackle organised crime
• Address causes of crime with policies such as
‘Sure Start’
• ASBO's - Labours very own 'Short, Sharp Shock'
Policy (ASBO’s scrapped in 2012 by Theresa May)
• Introduce ID cards
• Give police more stop & search powers
• Tougher laws against drug dealers

11. Consensus
• Both parties adopt an authoritarian stance
• Both parties have tried to ‘Out tough’ each
other since the 90’s
• Commitment to increasing police powers
• Critical of Criminal justice system (esp
treatment of victims)

12. Conflict
• Labour & Lib Dems want to tackle causes of crime
• Tories reject any notion that social condition is a
cause of crime
• Police often criticised by Labour backbenches &
Lib dems
• Anti-terrorism measures have never had cross
party support
• Lib Dems look to rehabilitation and would block
any ID card scheme

13. New Labour – new party
• No other policy distinguishes old from new
labour!
• 1997 – ‘No more excuses’ – was their tag line
• 1998 – Youth Justice & Criminal Evidence Act
• 1998 – Crime and Disroder Act
– Both the above are more authoritarian in
approach