Avoiding Political Interference in Crime Prevention

This chapter examines the role that ill-conceived political imperativesPolitical imperatives play in damaging the crime prevention task. Governments do not want to have anyone say that they are ‘soft on crimeSoft on crime’ and so they employ language that encourages voters to think that short-term ‘justice system’ responses are the only way to ensure community safety. The chapter challenges that approach. It speaks to the value of the campaign for legislatures to raise the age of criminal responsibilityAge of criminal responsibility, to expand the use of pill testing at festivals, and to embrace the idea of ‘justice reinvestmentJustice reinvestment’. It notes the evidence that politiciansPoliticians are wrong when they think that the voting public is suspicious of rehabilitationRehabilitation programs. It calls out the reluctance of governments to link social justice spending to lower crime ratesCrime rates lest they give the impression that their parsimony is criminogenic. The chapter concludes with the admonition for our society to engage in well-informed debates free from penal populismPenal populism.