NCJ Number
63111
Date Published
1977
Length
22 pages
Annotation
THIS BRITISH ARTICLE STATES THAT PARLIAMENT ONLY OCCASIONALLY HAS A DIRECT IMPACT ON THE FORMATION OF PENAL POLICY IN GREAT BRITAIN.
Abstract
PARLIAMENT'S ROLE IS SEEN NOT AS ONE OF INITIATING POLICY BUT OF SCRUTINY OF THE EXECUTIVE AND THE AIRING OF ISSUES WHICH BECOME POLITICALLY SALIENT AT CERTAIN TIMES. THOSE VISIBLE ASPECTS OF PENAL POLICYMAKING WHICH ARE THRUST ONTO THE PARLIAMENTARY STAGE ARE IN THEMSELVES A BIASED SAMPLE OF EVENTS. SINCE PENAL POLICY DEVELOPS WITHIN ONGOING ADMINISTRATIVE PRACTICE, PENAL PRESSURE GROUPS FOCUS MUCH OF THEIR ATTENTION ON WHITEHALL RATHER THAN ON WESTMINSTER. PENAL POLICY IS DIVISIBLE INTO VERTICAL STRATA WITHIN PARLIAMENT AND FRAGMENTED INTO DIVERSE SUBAREAS, SOME INVOLVING DIVISIONS OF MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY. THE ADMINISTRATIVELY RAMIFIED AND POLITICALLY UNAPPEALING SUBJECT OF PENAL POLICY THUS MAKES, IT UNLIKELY THAT PARLIAMENT WILL OPERATE OTHER THAN ON THE FRINGE OF A DISPERSED ARENA WHERE BIG DECISIONS ARE TAKEN OR WHERE LITTLE DECISIONS COALESCE INTO LARGE ONES. THE MAIN PRACTICAL IMPORTANCE OF PARLIAMENT IS THAT IT FORCES AN ESSENTIALLY CLOSED AND NARROWLY INTROSPECTIVE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT INTO THE OPEN AND INTO CONFRONTATION WITH LESS SPECIALIZED PUBLICS. SINCE PENAL POLICY MATTERS DO NOT OFTEN HAVE TOP PRIORITY IN PARLIAMENT, PARLIAMENT DOES LITTLE MORE THAN SUPPLEMENT THE GENERAL RESERVOIR OF IDEAS FROM WHICH SUCH POLICY WAS DRAWN. NOTES, TABLES, AND A DISCUSSION ARE APPENDED. (MJW)