NCJ Number
225475
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 47 Issue: 5 Dated: December 2008 Pages: 451-469
Date Published
December 2008
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This article provides a critical overview of the crime and penal policies of the Conservative Party under the leadership of David Cameron, in the United Kingdom, detailing what those policies are and questioning what their consequences are.
Abstract
Since his election to the leadership of the Conservative Party in 2005, David Cameron has sought to distance himself from previous policies and sought to present himself as promoting distinct and different ideas, in a radically pragmatic program branded as ‘Cameron Conservatism’. Through this program, it has been described that Cameron has set about changing his party, repositioning it as a party of the center rather than of the right. It is argued that he has persuaded a divided party to soften its ideological stance on a number of key issues in order to move towards a post-Thatcherite style of liberal Conservatism. The Conservative Party under David Cameron has presented itself as transformed. This article has sought to provide the first critical examination of Cameron’s penal policies. It shows that there is a set of policies in place that would have important consequences and also provides an insight into the society envisaged by a potential future government. After 10 years of Labor government, their penal policies have been extensively examined and reviewed. Recent months have seen the resurgence in popularity of the Conservative Party, but their penal policies have not been the subject of critical analysis. This article aims to provide such a review of Conservative Party policy. It explores the published statements and documents produced on penal policy and identifies that rather than presenting a new approach, the policies mix neo-conservative or New Right economic policies from the 1980s including the creation of a small State with marketized public services and promoting punitive criminal justice policies that have been staples of the party for more than a decade. It is argued that while there is some mixing and matching of policies and strategies, there is an underlying neo-conservative ideology. References