We Get the Crime We Deserve: Exploring the Disconnect in ‘Law and Order’ Politics

Abstract

Every dollar that Australian governments spend on keeping people in the criminal justice system is potentially a dollar that could have been spent on initiatives that have been shown to stem the flow of potential offenders and re-offenders. These initiatives include employment incentives, community capacity-building, drug treatments, post-release services, therapeutic courts and intervention for ‘at risk’ individuals and their families. Intriguingly, governments do spend significant amounts of money on these sorts of programs, but they seem reluctant to advertise the fact that they are assisting those whom many would class as ‘the undeserving’. This is an odd and expensive political disconnect. This paper explores a number of fallacies that persist in popular thinking that have the effect of widening this disconnect. It offers a number of paths forward for justice policy-makers and social planners in order to address the malaise.

Keywords: social policy, fear of crime, politicians and crime