Social Exclusion and Crime

This chapter explores different notions of ‘social exclusion’ and questions the British government’s overall approach to the problem on two main grounds. One is that it has tended to define the problem in terms of its symptoms rather its causes; and the other is its over-reliance on getting people into paid work as the solution. Employment will not of itself ensure that people are able to participate in to-day’s society in a meaningful sense; and the impact of changes in the labour market on crime pose long-term challenges which governments have tended to overlook. Instead, many of the criminal justice policies pursued by the present British government have actively contributed to social exclusion. They have reflected the both government’s commitment to being tough on crime (rather than on the causes of crime) and the premium it has attached to measurable indicators of performance. Together these have eroded the scope for discretion within the criminal justice system, resulting in unprecedented rates of incarceration and the criminalisation of young people in particular. However, the impact has not fallen evenly across the population. It has fallen disproportionately on sections of society (including minority communities) who already had a heightened risk of social exclusion in the first place.