Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

‘Law and order’ policy
welfare and rehabilitation principles in punishment practices. 23 The ethos of penal
welfarism is evident in policies such as:
• early release from prison
• parole supervision
• juvenile courts and their child welfare philosophy
• individualisation of treatment based upon expert assessment
• research on treatment effectiveness
• post-release support for prisoners
• education in prison.
This penal welfare approach to crime and punishment faced a predicament
during the ‘law and order crisis’ of the late 20th century. The 1970s and 1980s saw
a significant surge in violent and property crime rates. The efficacy of rehabilitation
focused penal welfare policies came under question. Moreover, governments had
todevisesolutionsthatwouldallowthemtomaintainsocialcontrolandstate
legitimacy in an environment that was perceived to be experiencing a crime
epidemic. Under such conditions, the welfare state was gradually eroded by
neoliberal rationalities (the reassertion of market principles and minimal state
intervention), which resulted in a hybrid political economy that subscribed
predominantly to neoliberal principles but retained elements of penal welfarism.
Neoliberalism shifted how people thought about the nexus between crime and
the state. Less emphasis was placed on the perception of crime as a by-product of
the social and economic deficits of the individual; rather, crime is now considered
tobetheresultofindividualautonomyandfreechoice.Individualsareheldto
account for their actions and penal sanctions are seen as the appropriate response
to crime. Neoliberalism and the rise of the penal state place the onus of responsibility
on the individual, and access to welfare assistance is conditional on one’s
compliance with societal rules.
The modern hybrid penal welfare policies have shifted focus towards:
• efficient management of the criminal justice system and its agencies through
the use of key performance indicators, the competitive tendering process and
privatisation of services
• effectiveriskmanagementof‘dangerousgroups’ofpeople–whichhasbeen
termed ‘new penology’ or ‘actuarial justice’ – instead of focusing on individual
needs
• harm minimisation and crime control, instead of preventing the occurrence of
all criminal activity
• fear reduction and improving the public perception of crime
• retribution in punishment, instead of offender rehabilitation.
23 Garland 2001.
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