Theorising and Exploring
the Thatcherite Legacy for
the Criminal Justice System
Stephen Farrall
Political Studies Ass. Conference
March 2015
Our Approach:
Drawing on Historical Institutionalism
• Concerned with illuminating how institutions and institutional settings
mediate the ways in which processes unfold over time.
• Institutions do not simply ‘channel’ policies; they help to define policy
concerns, create the ‘objects’ of policy and shape the nature of the
interests in policies which actors may have.
• So … Politics does not simply create policies; policies also create
politics.
• Attempts to understand how political and policy processes
and relationships play out over time coupled with an
appreciation that prior events, procedures and processes
will have consequences for subsequent events.
• There are both fast- and slow-moving causal processes
and outcomes.
In which ways might
increases in crime be a
legacy of ‘Thatcherite’
policies?
• Economic change
• Changes in social
security provision
• Changes in the
housing market
• Changes in
education policies
Economic Changes
• Economic restructuring overseen by
Thatcher governments.
• Consequently, levels of unemployment
and inequality rose through the 1980s.
• 1986 Social Security Act based on Fowler
Review (1984) reduced payments for
many individual benefits claimants (whilst
total spend increased due to unemp).
The Economy, Social Security
and Crime in Post-War Britain
Jennings et al (2012) find:
1: unemployment rate associated with property crime,
2: this strengthened during this period,
3: (economic inequality just outside significance),
4: increases in welfare spending is associated with
declines in the property crime rate.
Housing Policy
• 1980 Housing Act (+ others): created RTB
– huge rise in owner-occupation.
• Created residualisation of council housing;
redistributed social location of domestic
crimes.
• Working Paper available for comment
(email s.farrall@sheffield.ac.uk).
What happened to crime (etc)?
• Rise in crime (Fig 1). This was generally rising
before 1979, but the rate of increase picked up
after early 1980s and again in early 1990s.
• Fear of crime rises (tracks crime rates).
• People want to see an increase in spending on
the police/prisons (with decrease of spending on
social security, Fig 2).
Figure 1: Property Crime Per Capita (Home
Office Recorded Statistics and BCS)
Fig 2: Priorities for extra spending
(social security vs. police) BSAS 1983-2009
What have Govts done?
• They devote more time to crime in policy
agenda (Fig 3).
• Little sustained interest in crime until 60s
(2%).
• After 1979 GE rises to 8%.
• Big jump again in 1996 (15%).
• Thereafter runs at or near to 20%.
Figure 3: Proportion of attention to law and crime in
Queen’s Speech (from policyagendas.org)
Modelling Govt focus on crime
• Farrall and Jennings (2012) report
statistically significant relationships for:
1: national crime rate on Govt attention on
crime in Queen’s Speeches, and,
2: effects of public opinion on Govt. attention
on crime in Queen’s Speeches.
• So the Govt responds to crime rates and
expressions of public concern about crime.
Consistent with Cascades of Policy
Radicalism (Hay and Farrall, 2014)
• Thatcherite radicalism cascaded through
sectors of social and economic policy.
• Initial focus on the economy and electorally
popular policies (housing).
• Social Security reformed mid-1980s.
• From 1987 education, NHS, local Govts.
• Focus on crime a ‘spillover’ from other areas.
Outline of current work
ESRC grant with Colin Hay, Emily Gray and Will Jennings:
• Analyses of BCS, BSAS, GHS, BES + national level data.
Data sets to be made available autumn 2015.
• Training workshop (Manchester 20th May 2015) FULL
• 40min documentary film made (Doc Fest 2015)
• http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/law/research/projects/crimetrajectories
• Email newsletter (s.farrall@sheffield.ac.uk)
• Twittering: @Thatcher_legacy
Rest of Today’s Session
• Will will do … [TS]
• Maria will explore the degree to which we
have identified ‘Thatcher’s Children’ in relation
to various social/political attitudes. [APC]
• Emily will do the same for crime-related
matters. [APC]
Further Reading
Farrall, S. and Hay, C. (2010) Not So Tough on Crime? Why Weren’t the Thatcher Governments More Radical
In Reforming the Criminal Justice System? British Journal of Criminology, 50(3):550-69.
Farrall, S. and Jennings, W. (2012) Policy Feedback and the Criminal Justice Agenda: an analysis of the
economy, crime rates, politics and public opinion in post-war Britain, Contemporary British History,
26(4):467-488.
Farrall, S. and Jennings, W. (2014) Thatcherism and Crime: The Beast that Never Roared?, in Farrall S., and
Hay, C. Thatcher’s Legacy: Exploring and Theorising the Long-term Consequencies of Thatcherite
Social and Economic Policies, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 207-233.
Farrall, S. and Hay, C. (2014) Locating ‘Thatcherism’ In The ‘Here and Now’, in Farrall S., and Hay, C.
Thatcher’s Legacy: Exploring and Theorising the Long-term Consequencies of Thatcherite Social and
Economic Policies, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 315-339.
Farrall, S., Gray, E., Jennings, W. Hay, C. (2014) Using Ideas Derived from Historical Institutionalism to
Illuminate the Long-term Impacts on Crime of ‘Thatcherite’ Social and Economic Policies: A Working Paper.
Hay, C. and Farrall, S. (2014) Interrogating and Conceptualising the Legacy of Thatcherism, in Farrall S., and
Hay, C. Thatcher’s Legacy: Exploring and Theorising the Long-term Consequencies of Thatcherite
Social and Economic Policies, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 3-30.
Hay, C. and Farrall, S. (2011) Establishing the ontological status of Thatcherism by gauging its ‘periodisability’:
towards a ‘cascade theory’ of public policy radicalism, British Journal of Politics and International
Relations, 13(4): 439-58.
Jennings, W., Farrall, S. and Bevan, S. (2012) The Economy, Crime and Time: an analysis of recorded
property crime in England & Wales 1961-2006, International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 40(3):192210.