Penal populism

Penal populism is a process whereby the major political parties compete with each other to be 'tough on crime'. It is generally associated with a public perception that crime is out of control and tends to manifest at general elections when politicians put forward hard-line policies which would remand more offenders into prison prior to sentencing and impose longer sentences. Penal populism generally reflects the disenchantment felt by a distinct segment of society — crime victims and their representatives — who believe they have been left out, or simply forgotten, by justice processes which focus on the offender. It leads to the pursuit of penal policies designed to win votes rather than reduce crime or promote justice. Penal populism is a process whereby the major political parties compete with each other to be 'tough on crime'. It is generally associated with a public perception that crime is out of control and tends to manifest at general elections when politicians put forward hard-line policies which would remand more offenders into prison prior to sentencing and impose longer sentences. Penal populism generally reflects the disenchantment felt by a distinct segment of society — crime victims and their representatives — who believe they have been left out, or simply forgotten, by justice processes which focus on the offender. It leads to the pursuit of penal policies designed to win votes rather than reduce crime or promote justice. According to John Pratt, a criminologist at Victoria University, Wellington and international authority on penal populism, the original concept began in the work of Sir Anthony Bottoms a criminologist at Cambridge University. In 1995 Sir Anthony coined the term ‘populist punitiveness’ to describe one of the key influences which he saw at work on contemporary criminal justice and penal systems. It was intended to convey the notion of politicians tapping into and using for their own purposes, what he believed to be the public’s generally punitive stance towards anyone committing crime. The term changed to 'penal populism' when Julian V. Roberts of Oxford University stated that ‘penal populists allow the electoral advantage of a policy to take precedence over its penal effectiveness.” In France, this concept was popularized by Denis Salas, judge and university fellow, who defines it as a 'sympathetic discourse towards the victims', which leads to a perversion of justice. Salas says that in France, penal populism has led to a plethora of new laws designed to achieve an unrealistic or utopian goal — a society where there is no risk. He says many new criminal statutes have been passed which can be traced to their impact on public opinion, rather than their actual effectiveness at reducing crime. Underlying calls for a tougher approach on crime is a belief in the theory of deterrence - that the tougher the punishment is for a particular offence, the less likely people are to commit that particular crime. Programs such as boot camps and “scared straight” programs provide 'tough' punishment for teenage offenders — relying on deterrence theory. 'Three strikes' policies in New Zealand and the United States are also based on the threat, and on actual, long term incarceration of offenders. Belief in the theory of deterrence also requires belief in the ability of potential offenders to make rational choices. 'Rational choice theory' argues that an individual will only be deterred against a particular course of action if they weigh up the pros and cons and realise that the severe punishment that lies in wait (combined with an assessment of the likelihood of being caught) makes the crime not worth committing. However, the evidence suggests that increasing the severity of a punishment does not have much deterrent effect on crime, while increasing the certainty of punishment does. Clearly, enhancing the severity of punishment will have little impact on people who do not believe they will be apprehended for their actions. A study by Canadian criminologist Paul Gendreau brought together the results of 50 different studies of the deterrent effect of imprisonment involving over 300,000 offenders. The report said: 'None of the analyses found imprisonment reduced recidivism. The recidivism rate for offenders who were imprisoned as opposed to given a community sanction was similar. In addition, longer sentences were not associated with reduced recidivism. In fact the opposite was found. Longer sentences were associated with a 3% increase in recidivism. This finding suggests some support for the (opposing) theory that prison may serve as a ‘school for crime’ for some offenders'. Until the 1960s, criminal justice in western democracies involved primarily only two parties, the state and the offender. The rise of victims' movements in the second half of the twentieth century thrust a new, and until now largely forgotten, player into the justice arena. Initially, victims' groups provided support and counselling services to victims of crime, while the state began providing financial compensation and restitution. As the movement became more organised, the views of victims' groups became institutionalised through a variety of mechanisms such as victim impact statements and victim involvement in parole board hearings. In the United States, notification schemes such as Megan's Law, which requires authorities to make information available to the public regarding registered sex offenders, were also part of the process. Groups like Citizens United for Safety and Justice in Canada, Justice For All in the United States and the Sensible Sentencing Trust in New Zealand were often strident and vociferous although their spokespeople generally represent only a minority of crime victims — usually those in sensational murder cases. Such groups rely on populist appeals to 'common sense’ rather than evidence, research and analysis — which makes them attractive to the sensational approach increasingly adopted by the media. In New Zealand, the Sensible Sentencing Trust has had a significant impact in the media and on the political process — although the Trust does not mention victims in its mission statement which is about protecting the 'safety for all New Zealanders from violent and criminal offending'. The Trust is headed by Garth McVicar, a farmer from Napier. The role of the media is pivotal in shaping perceptions about the level of crime in society and promoting populist causes. In Anglo-Saxon countries in particular, the tabloid media tend to focus on stories about violent crime, especially when there are lurid or unusual circumstances. In Britain, the extensive coverage given to the ten-year-old killers of James Bulger is a typical example. In New Zealand, 12-year-old Bailey Junior Kurariki received similar media attention for years after his involvement in the death of Michael Choy, who was bashed to death as he delivered a pizza.