Introduction

Abstract

At the heart of this book lies an urge to understand better the nature of criminal justice policy and decision-making in the United Kingdom, during a time of complex reform. Over the decade of the former New Labour government, there were marked shifts in criminal law and criminal justice policy. In particular, during the period 1997–2007, the UK saw a rapid expansion of crime control policies and an increased number of new (many wide-reaching) criminal laws passed by parliament (Morris 2006; Lacey 2007: 174–175). The Act at the core of this book, the Serious Crime Act 2007, marked the 60th piece of Home Office legislation during this 10-year period, whereas by contrast there ‘were only 48 pieces of Home Office legislation in the previous 100 years’ (Brimelow 2007: l).¹ This increase in legislative activity has provided academics interested in criminal justice with numerous new fields of analysis. These analyses have typically concerned the consequences of such expansion (such as problems of overcriminalisation and a growing prison population) and criticism of excessively wide-reaching powers, and the creation of new measures, particularly in the state’s response to anti-social behaviour and terrorism (Garland 2001: 75–76; Matthews and Young 2003: 7; Crawford 2009). However, researchers have tended to concentrate on one substantive policy arena (for example, anti-social behaviour or terrorism) rather than on the apparent pattern of new measures, which together mount a strong attack on the rights of those accused or suspected of involvement in criminal activity (and on the criminal trial; see Ashworth and Zedner 2008).