ABSTRACT
This chapter advocates the importance of winning public support for progressive crime prevention (i.e. early intervention and more support for people with issues like mental ill health, poverty and addiction) and the perceived barrier presented by punitive public attitudes. It also summarises the book’s key themes of public punitiveness, opinion formation mechanisms and deliberative democracy for enhancing public crime debates.
First, it outlines, by reference to the author’s political and professional experience, how some leaders suffer the fear of public backlash if they were to initiate public debates around progressive reforms to criminal justice, for example, decriminalising drugs. In turn, it argues progressive reforms remain small-scale and precarious, while injustices from an unfair system prevail.
This chapter therefore sets the foundation of the book by explaining that it will test the assumption that there are significant punitive elements within society and public opinion, that legitimise this political fear. It explains therefore that this book will delve deeper into the factors that influence opinions on crime, and the kinds of public dialogue capable of shifting perspectives. It thereby presents a novel integrated analysis explored empirically, that moves the punitiveness literature on towards practical opportunities to achieve social change.
