Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Media, Politics and Penal Reform

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Media, Politics and Penal Reform

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

Abstract

This book has, for the first time, cast light on the particular difficulties experienced by those working to reform women’s penal policy. In so doing, it recognises the number of complexities inherent to the policy process, including the political culture and dominant ideology of the time (acting as an enabler or inhibitor to policy change); the ‘carrying capacities’ of the institutional agenda (Hilgartner and Bosk, 1988); the framing and (re)construction of competing messages and the omnipresent threat of public opinion.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Altheide, D., and Coyle, M. (2006) ‘Smart on Crime: The New Language for Prisoner Release’. Crime, Media, Culture 2:3 286–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumgartner, F., and Jones, B. (1993) Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, E. (2007) ‘A new direction for penal politics? Putting the popular back into populism’. In R. Roberts and W. McMahon (Eds.) Social Justice and Criminal Justice. London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Best, J. (2013) Social Problems. (Second Edition). New York: W.W Norton and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birkett, G. (2016) ‘We have no awareness of what they actually do’ Magistrates Knowledge of and Confidence in Community Sentences for Women Offenders in England and Wales’. Criminology and Criminal Justice 16:4 497–512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corcoran, M. (2011) ‘Dilemmas of Institutionalization in the Penal Voluntary Sector’. Critical Social Policy 31:1 30–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easton, S., and Piper, C. (2012/2016) Sentencing and Punishment: The Quest for Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gelsthorpe, L. (2004) ‘Back to Basics in Crime Control: Weaving in Women’. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 7:2 76–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelsthorpe, L., and Loucks, N. (1997) ‘Magistrates’ Explanations of Sentencing Decisions’. In C. Hedderman and L. Gelsthorpe (Eds.) Understanding the Sentencing of Women. Home Office Research Study 170. London: Home Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gramsci, A. (1971) Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. London: Lawrence and Wishart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, D. (2009) ‘Feeding Wolves: Punitiveness and Culture’. European Journal of Criminology 6:6 517–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grimshaw, R. (2004) ‘Whose Justice? Principal Drivers of Criminal Justice Policy, Their Implications for Stakeholders, and Some Foundations for Critical Policy Departures’ British Society of Criminology paper Available at: http://britsoccrim.org/volume7/005.pdf.

  • Hallahan, K. (1999) ‘Seven Models of Framing: Implications for Public Relations’. Journal of Public Relations Research 11 205–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedderman, C., and Barnes, R. (2015) ‘Sentencing Women: An Analysis of Recent Trends’. In J. Roberts (Ed.) Exploring Sentencing Practice in England and Wales. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hedge, J. (2007) Increasing the confidence of sentencers in community penalties: A programme of work with magistrates in the Thames Valley 2006/7. Available at: http://rethinking.org.uk/publications/index.shtml.

  • Hilgartner, S., and Bosk., C. L. (1988) ‘The Rise and Fall of Social Problems: A Public Arenas Model’. The American Journal of Sociology 94:1 53–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hilton, M., McKay, J., Crowson, N., and Mouhout, J. (2013) The Politics of Expertise: How NGOs Shaped Modern Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hobbs, S., and Hamerton, C. (2014) The Making of Criminal Justice Policy. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Home Office (2001a) Criminal Justice: The Way Ahead. London: The Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Home Office (2001c) Making Punishments Work: Report of a Review of the Sentencing Framework of England and Wales London: The Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Home Office (2007) The Corston Report: A Review of Women with Particular Vulnerabilities in the Criminal Justice System. by Baroness Jean Corston London: Home Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • House of Commons Justice Committee (2013) Women Offenders: After the Corston Report Second Report of Session 2013–14 HC 92 London: The Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hudson, B. (1993) Penal Policy and Social Justice. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, G., and Radcliffe, P. (2013) ‘Are magistrates doing justice to women?’. Criminal Justice Matters 92:1 34–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutton, N. (2005) ‘Beyond Populist Punitiveness?’. Punishment and Society 7:3 243–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Indermaur, D., and Hough, M. (2002) ‘Strategies for Changing Public Attitudes to Punishment’. In J. Roberts and M. Hough (Eds.) Changing Attitudes to Punishment: Public Opinion, Crime and Justice. Cullompton, Devon: Willan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ipsos MORI. (2010) Where are the Public on Crime and Punishment? Available at: https://www.ipsos-mori.com/_emails/sri/latestthinking/aug2010/content/2_where-are-the-public-on-crime-punishment.pdf.

  • Johnson-Cartee, K. S. (2005) News Narratives and News Framing: Constructing Political Reality. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, J. (2000) ‘Media Templates: Patterns of Association and the (Re)construction of Meaning over Time’. Media, Culture and Society 22:1 61–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loader, I. (2010) ‘For Penal Moderation: Notes Towards a Public Philosophy of Punishment’. Theoretical Criminology 14:3 349–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marougka, M. (2012) Sentencing women: Considering the factors that influence decision-making The Griffins Society Research Paper 2012/03.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCombs, M. E. (2014) Setting the Agenda: Mass Media and Public Opinion. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mills, H., and Roberts, R. (2011) ‘Is Penal Reform Working? Community Sentences and Reform Sector Strategies’. Criminal Justice Matters 84:1 38–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mills, H., and Roberts, R. (2012) ‘Reducing the Numbers in Custody: Looking Beyond Criminal Justice Solutions’ Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Minson, S. (2015) ‘Sentencing and dependents: Motherhood as mitigation’. In J. Roberts (Ed.) Exploring Sentencing Practice in England and Wales. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, J. M., and Roberts, R. (2016) ‘What lies beyond criminal justice? Developing Transformative Solutions’. Justice, Power and Resistance Foundation Volume: 115–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • New Economics Foundation (2008) Unlocking Value: How We All Benefit from Investing in Alternatives to Prison for Women Offenders’ Available at: http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/entry/unlocking-value.

  • Newburn, T., and Jones, T. (2005) ‘Symbolic politics and penal populism: the long shadow of Willie Horton’. Crime, Media, Culture 1:1 72–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nimmo, D., and Combs, J. (1983) Mediated Political Realities. New York: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Player, E. (2014) ‘Women in the Criminal Justice System: The Triumph of Inertia’. Criminology and Criminal Justice 14:3 276–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, R. A. W. (2011) Everyday Life in British Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, J. (2000) ‘Government, Interest Groups and Policy Change’. Political Studies 48 1006–1025.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, J. V. (2008) ‘Prisons and the Public’ Public Opinion and the Media Seminar: Commission on English Prisons Today Available at: http://www.howardleague.org/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Commission/Prisons_and_the_Public_-_Julian_Roberts.pdf.

  • Roberts, J. V., Stalans, L. J., Indermaur, D., and Hough, M. (2003) Penal Populism and Public Opinion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, L. (2005) ‘Tabloid Tactics: Pushing Prison Reduction’. Criminal Justice Matters 59:1 3–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford, A. (1993) Criminal Justice and the Pursuit of Decency. Winchester: Waterside Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, M. (2010) ‘Policy making Processes, Mobilising Consent, and Contesting Penal Populism’ Speech to the 6th Annual North/South Criminology Conference, Belfast. Available at: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/3425/1/RYAN_Policy_Making_Processes.pdf.

  • Schlesinger, P., and Tumber, H. (1994) Reporting Crime: The Media Politics of Criminal. Justice Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seal, L., and Phoenix, J. (2013) ‘Raw Deal: The Curious Expansion of Penal Control Over Women and Girls’. In A. Dockley and I. Loader (Eds.) The Penal Landscape: The Howard League Guide to Criminal Justice in England and Wales. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow, D. A., and Benford, R. D. (1988) ‘Ideology, Frame Resonance, and Participant Mobilization. International Social Movement Research 1 197–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow, D. A., Burke Rochford Jr., E., Worden, S. K., and Benford, R. D. (1986) ‘Frame Alignment Processes, Micromobilization, and Movement Participation’. American Sociological Review 51:4 464–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, E. (2005) ‘Is the Press the Real Power Behind Punitivism?’. Criminal Justice Matters 59:1 34–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Terkildsen, N., and Schnell, F. (1997) ‘How Media Frames Move Public Opinion: An Analysis of the Women’s Movement’. Political Research Quarterly 50: 879–900.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zetter, L. (2008) Lobbying: The Art of Political Persuasion. Harriman House: Petersfield.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Gemma Birkett

Authors
  1. Gemma Birkett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Birkett, G. (2017). Media, Politics and Penal Reform. In: Media, Politics and Penal Reform. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58509-7_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58509-7_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58508-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58509-7

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation