Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

‘Law and order’ policy
Given that politicians are in the business of staying in or attaining office, it is in
their interests to align their policies with widely held public sentiments. Moreover,
politicians do not merely react to public sentiment; public sentiment is heavily
influenced by political agendas and media coverage on crime.
Criminal justice experts
Criminal justice experts are often involved in the policy-making process in some
capacity. They may include: academics, commercial research companies and think
tanks. Criminal justice experts will often advocate for policy changes in response to
system deficiencies that have come to their attention as a result of their professional
work. Experts may be consulted in the process of drafting policy documents or be
asked to advise ministers on issues within their field of expertise. They may also
make submissions to parliamentary inquiries. At times, governments will utilise
expert opinion to legitimise their policy decisions.
Private-sector firms
Governments contract out some of their responsibilities to the private sector. For
example, although the punishment of offenders is a state responsibility, the
government has contracted private-sector firms to operate prisons in Australia.
Private-sector firms who provide criminal justice services have a vested interest in
any policy developments that may impact how they operate in this area.
How ‘law and order’ policy is made
Various approaches, theories and models have been developed to explain and
analyse the law and order policy-making process. The different actors and the
extent of their respective contributions and influence on law and order policy are
contingent on the policy-making model adopted. A small number of models, and
‘policy transfer’ in law and order, will be considered here.
Models of law and order policy making
Table 2 provides an overview of the core models of law and order policy making,
drawn from Hobbs and Hamerton. 29 The law and order policy-making process
does not strictly follow any of these models; rather, it combines different elements
from each model. For less contentious law and order issues, policy makers generally
employ more elements of the rational decision model, which focuses on evidencebased
policy making. Issues that elicit greater political contestation or are hasty
29 Hobbs and Hamerton 2014.
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