The Criminal Justice Policy-making Process – the Formal and Informal Process

Hamerton, Christopher and Hobbs, Suzanne (2014) The Criminal Justice Policy-making Process – the Formal and Informal Process. In, The Making of Criminal Justice Policy. 1 ed. Abingdon. Routledge, pp. 70-99. (doi:10.4324/9781315798080).

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

This chapter examines how principles and ideas are transformed into formal policy in the UK. Its starting point is the notion of ‘policy from below’, and the important role that various pressure groups play in lobbying both the media and politicians in order to promote their position on preferred policy. The rise of the think tank is considered as well, and is appraised in terms of neutrality, partisanship and infl uence within the political sphere. Politicians, political power and ideology are also discussed, as is political commitment to crime policy, and the drive to ‘join up’ public policy in the associated areas that have affected crime in recent years. In addition, the chapter critically examines the role of government departments (principally the Home Offi ce and the Ministry of Justice), and the signifi cant role of the Civil Service, more specifi cally the Civil Service ‘mandarins’ in developing and augmenting policy outputs. The focus of the chapter also includes the path of social policy through parliament, and summarises how crime policy has been ‘harnessed’ by politicians over the past 50 years

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