Michael Brake - Public Order and Private Lives (Routledge Revivals): The Politics of Law and Order

First published in 1992, Public Order and Private Lives is a radical examination of the political forces which shaped the law and order debate in Britain at that time. The authors offer a significant and provoking analysis of Conservative policies on crime, showing that, ironically, they created the very social conditions in which crime flourished. The book argues that the Conservative government undermined basic civil liberties by its increased use of legislation as a means of control and coercion, and as a result of this, crime increased under their governance.

Public Order and Private
Lives

The Politics of Law and Order

Michael Brake and Chris Hale

First published in 1922

by Routledge

This edition first published in 2013 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1992 Michael Brake and Chris Hale

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Publisher's Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been unable to contact.

A Library of Congress record exists under ISBN: 91009034

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-82837-6 (hbk)

ISBN 13: 978-0-203-52142-7 (ebk)

Michael Brake and
Chris Hale

First published in 1922

by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

1992 Michael Brake and Chris Hale

Typeset by Michael Mepham, Frome, Somerset

Printed in Great Britain by

Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King's Lynn

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Brake, Michael

Public order and private lives: the politics of law and order

1. Great Britain. Public order. Role of government

I. Title

II. Chris Hale 364.941

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Brake, Michael.

Public order and private lives: the politics of law and order/ Michael Brake and Chris Hale

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Criminal justice, Administration ofGreat Britain. 2. Great BritainSocial Policy1979 3. CriminologyGreat Britain.

I. Hale, Chris. II. Title.

HV9960.G7B73 1992

ISBN 0415068304

0415025672 (pbk)

The original project for this book was suggested by Dr Steven Box, Reader in Criminology at the University of Kent. For Steve the criminological enterprise involved uncovering the skulduggery of the great and the good, and the revelations of the peccadilloes and criminal endeavours of the privileged filled him with glee. Criminology was linked intimately with studies of the powerful and the dispossessed. He understood the material basis of working-class criminality and the board room greed which produced corporate and white-collar crime. For him the deviant world was summarised in the title of Jeffrey Reiman's book, The rich get richer and the poor get prison. No one had a defter hand in delving through the quotations quarries or scavenging obscure articles to make political points. Steve was a committed scholar with a keen academic mind. He defended the poor, and emphasised the structural reasons why the powerless were projected on criminal careers. As a control theorist he was puzzled as to why so many failed to riot or rebel. He was an interactionist who delighted in the games people play, an exchange theorist who understood gambling for something better and a structuralist who recognised the influence of the political economy.

He died tragically from cancer in 1987. Towards the end of his life he struggled with the ideological influences of sexism, writing one of the best analyses of rape by a male sociologist. He was a gifted lecturer who delighted in performing during his addresses, spicing his discussions with music hall songs, anecdotes and limericks. He was a good friend to us both and we miss him and owe him much. This book is dedicated to him thanks for the ideas Steve, the mistakes are ours.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Eugene McLaughlin, for a sympathetic but critical reading of an earlier draft, Talia Rodgers of Routledge for persevering with what must have seemed like a never-to-be-completed task and Delice Gambrill for her valiant help in typing the manuscript. Finally we must thank Nicola and Tom, and Fran, Jack, Kate, Jody and Seth for their encouragement.

The most disturbing threat to our freedom and security is the growing disrespect for the rule of law. In government as in opposition, Labour have undermined it. The number of crimes in England and Wales is nearly half as much again as it was in 1973. The next Conservative government will spend more on fighting crime even while we economise elsewhere. Britain needs strong, efficient police forces with high morale.

(Conservative Party Election Manifesto 1979)

The origins of crime lie deep in society: in families where parents do not support or control their children; in schools where discipline is poor; and in the wider world where violence is glamorised and traditional values are under attack.

Government alone cannot tackle such deep-rooted problems easily or quickly.

(Conservative Party Election Manifesto 1987)

In one sense, law and order can be seen as the Conservative confidence trick of the 1980s, yet, in another, it was an integral part of their success. The emphasis on strong policing and the need to deter by the use of incarceration were key planks in their 1979 election propaganda. They certainly did not fail to meet the pledges made during that campaign to increase expenditure on the institutions of the criminal justice system. While other spending departments came under the razor-edged scrutiny of the Treasury and the ideologues of the market, the Home Office managed to expand the resources at its proposal. The cost of policing England and Wales increased by 60 per cent in real terms between 197475 and 198990 from 2.58 billion to 4.12 billion (Graef 1990). A major prison building programme was planned and its implementation begun. However, the implicit promise to reduce crime has palpably failed, if the official figures used by the Tories themselves are to be believed. Between 1979 and 1988 there was a 45 per cent increase in the numbers of notifiable offences reported to the police (Criminal Statistics 1988). This figure includes a reduction in recorded offences of 5 per cent in 1988, a turndown greeted with much self-congratulation by Home Office ministers. Figures for 1989 (