Weeding the garden: The Third Way, the Westminster tradition and imprisonment for public protection
Weeding the garden: The Third Way, the Westminster tradition and imprisonment for public protection
This article engages with the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence of the UK Criminal Justice Act 2003, a prominent measure against ‘dangerous offenders’, in a ‘substantively political light’ (O’Malley, 1999). It provides an interpretation based on policymakers’ beliefs and traditions. I argue that the perceived need for the IPP sentence and its ultimate form was the result of New Labour ministers’ reliance on the Third Way political ideology and its implications for criminal justice policy. In addition, in terms of the policymaking process, I suggest that the ‘Westminster tradition’ conditioned policymakers’ actions in relation to the IPP sentence, in ways that were crucial to its outcome. The article concludes with an examination of the moral significance of these beliefs and traditions by reference to Bauman’s discussion of the dangers of a modern ‘garden culture’.
bauman, crime policy, ideology, new penology, politics
38-55
Annison, Harry
91ee5a4a-811e-4b57-9fd4-df643465b2a1
5 February 2014
Annison, Harry
91ee5a4a-811e-4b57-9fd4-df643465b2a1
Annison, Harry
(2014)
Weeding the garden: The Third Way, the Westminster tradition and imprisonment for public protection.
Theoretical Criminology, 18 (1), .
(doi:10.1177/1362480613497779).
Abstract
This article engages with the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence of the UK Criminal Justice Act 2003, a prominent measure against ‘dangerous offenders’, in a ‘substantively political light’ (O’Malley, 1999). It provides an interpretation based on policymakers’ beliefs and traditions. I argue that the perceived need for the IPP sentence and its ultimate form was the result of New Labour ministers’ reliance on the Third Way political ideology and its implications for criminal justice policy. In addition, in terms of the policymaking process, I suggest that the ‘Westminster tradition’ conditioned policymakers’ actions in relation to the IPP sentence, in ways that were crucial to its outcome. The article concludes with an examination of the moral significance of these beliefs and traditions by reference to Bauman’s discussion of the dangers of a modern ‘garden culture’.
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Weeding the Garden post-print.pdf
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 20 June 2013
e-pub ahead of print date: 29 August 2013
Published date: 5 February 2014
Keywords:
bauman, crime policy, ideology, new penology, politics
Organisations:
Southampton Law School
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 358369
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/358369
ISSN: 1362-4806
PURE UUID: 41099761-c537-4864-8645-474b188f0853
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Date deposited: 04 Oct 2013 09:25
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:48
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