'Who governs? Democracy, plutocracy, science and prophecy in
policing' Criminology and Criminal Justice (2013) 13 pp.161-180
This article critically analyses two key debates about police and policing: the problematic definition of their role, and how they can be rendered democratically accountable. Both issues have been radically altered through the profound transformation of policing produced by the last three decades of neo-liberal hegemony. The article focuses on how this has developed in England and Wales, although there are parallels with other jurisdictions. The complex role of the police has been distilled down to criminal catching. Accountability has become accountancy, under the auspices of New Public Management. The current British Coalition government’s tendentious ‘austerity’ measures make these perennial problems especially acute. The Coalition purports to be democratizing police accountability through elected Police and Crime Commissioners. These claims are critically analysed in principle, but how they work out in practice is hard to prophesy. It is suggested they may play out in ways that frustrate their architects’ hopes, due to the continuing baleful consequences of neoliberalism.
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'Policing and social democracy: resuscitating a lost
perspective' Journal of Police Studies 2012/4 nr.25 pp.91-114
This paper analyses a sharp transformation in the problematic of police research that has
occurred since the 1990s. The change is from a primary focus on sociology of the police
to sociology for the police, from critical and theoretical concerns to providing practicable
solutions to immediate policing problems. This is related to wider changes in the discipline of
criminology, and beyond that to seismic shifts in the political economy and culture. These are
the supplanting of an at least implicitly social democratic analysis of the ultimate sources and
solutions of social problems including crime and disorder, to a neo-liberal one that highlights
the politics of law and order. Whilst in the short run these appear to have worked as reflected
in the fall in crime rates since the mid-1990s, the longer term issue is whether this has been
symptom suppression, as a social democratic perspective suggests, rather than a stable basis
for security which would require wider socio-economic justice.
'What's Left? The prospects for social democratic
criminology' Crime, Media, Culture (2012) 8 (2) pp.135-150
This paper analyses the fate of social democratic sensibility in thinking about crime and criminal
justice that prevailed for most of the 20th century, until a profound rupture in culture, political
economy, crime and criminal justice. The paper proposes an ideal-type of social democratic
criminology, and contrasts it with the law-and-order perspective that displaced it after the 1970s.
The sources and consequences of this seismic shift are analysed and evaluated. Finally, following
the fracturing of the last forty years’ neoliberal hegemony in the wake of the 2008 financial crash,
it considers the prospects of a revival of the social democratic perspective in criminological thinking.
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'Political Economy and Criminology: The Return of the
Repressed’ in S.Hall and S.Winlow (eds.) New Directions in Criminological
Theory London: Routledge pp. 30-51.
'What Causes Crime?’ in S.Khan (ed.) Punishment
and Reform: How Our Criminal Justice System Can Cut Crime London: Fabian
Society, 2011, pp. 86-94.
R.Reiner: ‘Return of the Nasty Party’ in A.Silvestri (ed.)
Critical Reflections: Social and Criminal Justice in the First Year of Coalition
Government London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, 2012, pp. 28-30
(C.Greer and) R.Reiner: ‘Mediated Mayhem: Media, Crime,
Criminal Justice’ in (M.Maguire, R.Morgan and) R.Reiner (eds.): The Oxford
Handbook of Criminology 5th.ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp.
245-78.
R.Reiner: ‘Casino Capital’s Crimes: Political Economy, Crime,
and Criminal Justice’ in (M.Maguire, R.Morgan and) R.Reiner (eds.): The
Oxford Handbook of Criminology 5th.ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2012, pp. 301-335.
(T.Newburn and) R.Reiner: ‘Policing and the Police’ in (M.Maguire,
R.Morgan and) R.Reiner (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Criminology 5th.ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012, pp.806-837
In praise of fire brigade policing: Contra common
sense conceptions of the police role London: Howard League 2012, 23 pp.
R.Reiner: ‘British Society of Criminology Outstanding
Achievement Award 2011 Acceptance Speech’ British Society of Criminology
Newsletter 69, London: British Society of Criminology 2011, pp.9-11
R.Reiner: ‘Foreword’ to Emma Bell: Criminal Justice and
Neoliberalism London: Sage 2011 pp.vi-xi.
Review Symposium in Policing (2011) Vol.5 no.2 in response to The Politics of the Police
4th ed.
‘New Theories of Policing: A Social Democratic Critique’ in
T.Newburn, D.Downes and D.Hobbs (eds.) The Eternal Recurrence of Crime and
Control: Essays for Paul Rock Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010
pp.141-82.
'Citizenship, Crime, Criminalization: Marshalling a Social
Democratic Perspective' New Criminal Law Review Apr 2010, Vol. 13, No. 2:
241–261
This paper argues that criminalization, in the double sense of
more perceived (and probably actual) crime and of the tough crime control
policies brought by the politics of law and order, are consequences of the
reversal some thirty years ago of the centuries-long progress toward universal
incorporation into social, political, and civil citizenship. By contrast, the
hundred years before that had witnessed the spread of social rights and greater
inclusiveness, and experienced a benign coupling of lower crime and disorder
with more consensual and welfare-oriented policing and penality. The necessary
condition of restoring that more benign climate of greater security is a
reversal of the neoliberalism that undermined social democracy. Since the 2007
credit crash, neoliberalism has been challenged increasingly, as practice and as
ideology, yet it remains deeply embedded. The ideas and organization to restore
social democracy have not been developed. Nonetheless it remains the
precondition for security and humane criminal justice, as envisaged by T.H.
Marshall's citizenship lectures fifty years ago.
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‘Police Property’ in A.Wakefield and J.Fleming: The Sage
Dictionary of Policing London: Sage, 2009, pp.230-231.
‘Police Property’ in A.Wakefield and J.Fleming: The Sage
Dictionary of Policing London: Sage, 2009, pp.230-231.
‘Consent’ in A.Wakefield and J.Fleming: The Sage Dictionary
of Policing London: Sage, 2009, pp.52-4.
‘Crime and the Media’ in P.Cane and J.Conaghan: The New
Oxford Companion to Law Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.260-261.
‘Crime Rates’ in P.Cane and J.Conaghan: The New Oxford
Companion to Law Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.267-8.
‘Dixon of Dock Green’ in T.Newburn and P.Neyroud:
Dictionary of Policing Cullompton: Willan, 2008, p. 85.
‘Media and Policing’ in T.Newburn and P.Neyroud: Dictionary
of Policing Cullompton: Willan, 2008, pp.161-2.
‘The Law and Order Trap’ Soundings: A Journal of Politics and
Culture 40, December 2008, pp.123-134.
‘Success Or Statistics? New Labour and Crime Control’
Criminal Justice Matters 67, Spring 2007, pp.4-5, 37.
‘Political Economy, Crime and Criminal
Justice’ in The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Edited by
M.Maguire, R.Morgan and R.Reiner. 4th Ed. Oxford University Press
2007 pp.341-380.
The
most comprehensive and authoritative single volume text on
the subject, the fourth edition of the acclaimed Oxford
Handbook of Criminology combines masterly reviews of all the
key topics with extensive references to aid further
research. In addition to the history of the discipline and
reviews of different theoretical perspectives, the book
provides up-to-date reviews of diverse topics as the
criminal justice process, race and gender, crime statistics,
and the media and crime. The fourth edition has been
substantially revised and updated and is essential reading
for all teachers and students of criminology and an
indispensable sourcebook for professionals.
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(With T.Newburn) ‘Policing and the
Police’ in The Oxford Handbook of Criminology Edited by
M.Maguire, R.Morgan and R.Reiner, 4th Ed. Oxford University Press
2007 pp.910-952.
The
most comprehensive and authoritative single volume text on
the subject, the fourth edition of the acclaimed Oxford
Handbook of Criminology combines masterly reviews of all the
key topics with extensive references to aid further
research. In addition to the history of the discipline and
reviews of different theoretical perspectives, the book
provides up-to-date reviews of diverse topics as the
criminal justice process, race and gender, crime statistics,
and the media and crime. The fourth edition has been
substantially revised and updated and is essential reading
for all teachers and students of criminology and an
indispensable sourcebook for professionals.
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for publisher's site
‘Media Made Criminality’ in The
Oxford Handbook of Criminology, Edited by M.Maguire, R.Morgan
and R.Reiner, 4th Ed. Oxford University Press 2007 pp. 302-337
The
most comprehensive and authoritative single volume text on
the subject, the fourth edition of the acclaimed Oxford
Handbook of Criminology combines masterly reviews of all the
key topics with extensive references to aid further
research. In addition to the history of the discipline and
reviews of different theoretical perspectives, the book
provides up-to-date reviews of diverse topics as the
criminal justice process, race and gender, crime statistics,
and the media and crime. The fourth edition has been
substantially revised and updated and is essential reading
for all teachers and students of criminology and an
indispensable sourcebook for professionals.
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for publisher's site
‘Criminology As A Vocation’ in
Crime, Social Control and Human Rights Ed. By D.Downes, P.Rock,
C.Chinkin and C.Gearty, Cullompton: Willan, 2007 pp.395-409.
The
work of Stanley Cohen over four decades has come to
acquire a classical status in the fields of criminology,
sociology and human rights. His writing, research,
teaching and practical engagement in these fields have
been at once rigorously analytical and intellectually
inspiring. It amounts to a unique contribution,
immensely varied yet with several unifying themes, and
it has made, and continues to make, a lasting impact
around the world. His work thus has a protean character
and scope which transcend time and place.
This book of essays in Stanley Cohen’s honour aims to
build on and reflect some of his many-sided contributions.
It contains chapters by some of the world’s leading thinkers
as well as the rising generation of scholars and
practitioners whose approach has been shaped in significant
respects by his own
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(With T.Newburn) ‘Police Research’ in
Doing Research on Crime and Justice Edited by R. King and
E. Wincup, 2nd Ed. Oxford University Press 2007
This
volume brings together research principles with the
practical issues of carrying out research to provide a
clear and fascinating guide to the reality of
contemporary criminological research. The experience of
leading experts is combined with first-hand accounts
from new scholars, to provide a text that students can
refer to throughout their criminological studies.
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(With T.Newburn) ‘Crime and Penal
Policy’ in Blair’s Britain, 1997-2007, Ed. By
A. Seldon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2008
Tony
Blair has dominated British political life for more than
a decade. Like Margaret Thatcher before him, he has
changed the terms of political debate and provoked as
much condemnation as admiration. At the end of his era
in power, this book presents a wide-ranging overview of
the achievements and failures of the Blair governments.
Bringing together Britain's most eminent academics and
commentators on British politics and society, it
examines the effect of the Prime Minister and his
administration on the machinery of government, economic
and social policy and foreign relations. Combining
serious scholarship with clarity and accessibility, this
book represents the authoritative verdict on the impact
of the Blair years on British politics and society.
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‘Media, Crime, Law and Order’
Scottish Journal of Criminal Justice Studies 12: July 2006 pp.
5-21.
‘Neo-liberalism, Crime and Criminal
Justice’ Renewal 14/3 2006. Pp. 10-22.
‘Neo-philia or Back to Basics? Policing Research and the Seductions
of Crime Control’ Policing and Society 17:1 2007 pp.89-101.
‘Law and Order: A 20:20 Vision’
Current Legal Problems 2006 Oxford University Press 2007
pp.129-60.
‘Success Or Statistics? New Labour and
Crime Control’ Criminal Justice Matters 67, Spring 2007,
pp.4-5, 37.
‘Beyond Risk: A Lament for Social
Democratic Criminology’ in The Politics of Crime Control,
Edited by T.Newburn and P.Rock. Oxford University Press 2006 pp.
7-49.
This book brings together ten leading British
criminologists to explore the contemporary politics of
crime and its control. The volume is produced in honour
of Britain's most important criminological scholar -
David Downes of the London School of Economics. The
essays are grouped around the three major themes that
run through David Downes' work - sociological theory,
crime and deviance; comparative penal policy; and, the
politics of crime. The third theme also provides the
overarching unifying thread for the volume.
The contributions are broad ranging and cover such
subjects as criminological theory and the new East End
of London, the practice of comparative criminology
including an analysis of variations in penal cultures
within the United States, restorative justice in
Colombia, New Labour's politics and policy in relation
to dangerous personality-disordered offenders, the legal
construction of torture, and the future for a social
democratic criminology.
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'From PC Dixon to Dixon PLC: Policing
and Police Powers Since 1954’ (With T. Newburn) Criminal Law
Review August 2004 pp. 601-18.
Examines the
transformation in policing over the past 50 years,
focusing on the pluralisation of policing in respect of
the more complex relationship between the police and
other policing mechanisms, and secondly shifts in the
mandate and legitimacy of the police themselves.
Explores: (1) the dialectics of policing history since
1954; (2) the changes in police powers since 1954,
tracing the statutory extensions and in particular the
significance and effects of the landmark Police and
Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and the accretion of powers
through legislation at least ostensibly designed to deal
with the policing of terrorism; (3) police governance
since 1954 in terms of both the procedures for remedying
misconduct by individual police officers, with the
introduction of the Police Complaints Authority and
later the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and
the accountability of the overall organisation and its
policies, outlining the restructuring and centralisation
of police governance in the 1990s epitomised by the
Police Act 1996; and (4) privatisation and pluralisation
with the development of private, municipal and civilian
guards, officers and wardens accompanied by the spread
of technology, notably closed circuit television, and
the policy shift towards privatisation from the mid
1980s and partnership under the Labour Government with
the strengthening of the shifts in the management and
provision of police services under the Crime and
Disorder Act 1998.
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‘Policing and the Media’. In
Handbook of Policing, 2nd. ed. edited by T.Newburn. (Willan Publishing
2008)
This
is one of the most ambitious books on policing ever
written. It aims to provide a comprehensive but highly
readable overview of policing in the UK, reflecting the
transformations that have taken place in recent years
and the increasing professionalisation of one of the
country's most important services. It will be an
essential text for anybody involved in the study of
policing as a subject in its own right or as part of a
broader criminal justice or criminology course, and a
key source of reference for the police themselves -- it
is by far the most comprehensive and authoritative book
to have been written on the subject, combining the
expertise of leading academic experts on policing and
policing practitioners themselves. It will become an
essential point of reference at a time of rapid change
for the police, and constant debate about their role and
function.
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‘From Law and Order to Lynch Mobs:
Crime News Since the Second World War’. (With S. Livingstone and J.
Allen) In Criminal Visions: Media Representations of Crime
and Justice, Edited by P.Mason. Willan Publishing 2003 pp.13-32.
Media
representations of law and order are matters of keen
public interest and have been the subject of intense
debate amongst those with an interest in the media,
crime and criminal justice.
Despite being an increasingly high profile subject
few publications address this subject head on. This book
aims to meet this need by bringing together an important
range of papers from leading researchers in the field,
addressing issues of fictional, factual and hybrid
representations in the media -- the so called
'docu-dramas' and 'faction'.
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'Crime and Control in Britain'
Sociology 34:1 2000 pp. 71-94.
This paper explores the
possible patterns of crime and control in the
twenty-first century, drawing on an analysis of current
and recent developments.These suggest a dystopian
prospect of permanently high crime rates, and control
strategies that reinforce social division and
exclusion.Current ‘third way’ policies for crime
reduction may achieve modest success, in part because
they indirectly encourage agencies to manipulate
statistically recorded outcomes to their advantage. They
do not however tackle the underlying sources of crime in
the political economy and culture of global capitalism,
offering only actuarial analyses of risk variation, and
pragmatic preventive interventions to reduce these. In
the absence of any broader changes to the social
patterns which generate high-crime societies the
prospect is of marginal palliatives for crime,which
themselves have the dysfunctional consequences of
increasing segregation, distrust and anxiety.
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Robert Reiner
