ABSTRACT
Neo-liberalism is the most common label for the economic theory and practice that has swept the world, displacing communism in eastern Europe, China and the Keynesian, mixed economy, welfare state consensus that had prevailed in western liberal democracies since the Second World War. The broader economic, social, political, cultural and moral dysfunctions of neo-liberalism produce more crime and more authoritarian criminal justice policy. Neo-liberalism has spread from the economic sphere to the social and cultural. The roots of contemporary consumer culture predate neo-lilieral dominance, but it has now become hegemonic. Neo-liberalism has an impact on all these conditions in ways that make the commission and/or recording of crimes more likely. There is a plethora of empirical evidence demonstrating that neo-liberalism produces more crime and law and order politics, promising and delivering more punitive and authoritarian crime control practices.
