ABSTRACT
Twenty-one years ago Michael Freeman gave a Current Legal Problems lecture called 'Law and Order in 1984'. This chapter examines six issues. It includes the rise of law and order politics; what is crime? What has actually happened to crime trends? The development of contemporary crime control policies; the explanation of trends in crime and how to explain and assess the new punitiveness in crime control policies? 'Law and order' had first become politicized in the USA in the 1960s. 'Law and order' itself is an old phrase, traditionally invoked as if it represented some unproblematic, linked perfect partnership, like Laurel and Hardy or 'bangers and mash'. The politicization of law and order was heralded in Britain in the 1970 General Election, when the Conservative Party manifesto said that the Labour Government cannot entirely shrug off responsibility' for rising 'crime and violence'.
