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Under Siege: Probation in a Changing Environment

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Beyond Law and Order

Part of the book series: Explorations in Sociology ((EIS))

Abstract

The 1980s has been characterised by rapid change: increased unemployment, the unleashing of market forces and a government ideology motivated by the sanctity of individual liberty and responsibility. Opinions vary on the reasons for this change in government thinking, but it is undoubtedly having an effect on economic, political and cultural life (see King, 1987). By the ‘rolling back’ of the state, individual initiative is no longer stifled. This freedom to choose has as its concomitant theme, increasing individual responsibility in choices of action. However, as commentators have noted, a renewal of laissez-faire in the economic sphere has apparently resulted in an increasing authoritarianism in the social sphere (see Hall and Jacques, 1983; Leys, 1984). Thus, the criminal justice system has not escaped the impact of these changes. Rehabilitation of the criminal is no longer the primary aim it once was. There is now a focus on punishment predicated upon individual responsibility in the undertaking of criminal acts.

‘Offence after offence appears to be the inevitable lot of him whose foot has once slipped’ (Rainer’s letter to the English Temperance Society, quoted in Jarvis, 1972, p. 2).

‘any set of social and economic arrangements which is not founded on the acceptance of individual responsibility will do nothing but harm. We arc all responsible for our own actions. We cannot blame society if we break the law. We simply cannot delegate the exercise of mercy and generosity to others’ (Margaret Thatcher speaking to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, May 1988. Italics added).

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Authors
  1. Tim May
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Law, London School of Economics, UK

    Robert Reiner (Lecturer in Criminology) (Lecturer in Criminology)

  2. Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Warwick, UK

    Malcolm Cross (Principal Research Fellow) (Principal Research Fellow)

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© 1991 British Sociological Association

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May, T. (1991). Under Siege: Probation in a Changing Environment. In: Reiner, R., Cross, M. (eds) Beyond Law and Order. Explorations in Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21282-8_10

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