Politics and Policies

1. Politicsand Policies Criminal laws (policies) “Is it justice?”

2. How politics affects on policies? • Policies are legislated by politicians. • Policies are implemented by politicians. • Therefore, Policies are influenced by politics.

3. Kraska (2004) • “From the standpoint of the political framework, all criminal justice activity and thinking is interest-based.” => Policies vary depending on parties and interest groups. Death Penalty in America=> Democratic vs. Republican

4. Wright (1981) • “Both conservatives and radicals concur that the basis of criminal justice, criminal law, is generated with an interest structure. … Laws are the product of different interest groups vying for power to see their interests presented or realized.”

5. Paraphrase of Wight (1981) • By the competing dynamics of political and interest groups, policies are made, and laws do not have absolute values but are legislated reflecting the public’s opinion, especially the public whose voices are loud. • The rich vs. the poor

6. Law Making • The opinion of the public -> Pressured politicians-> to satisfy the public -> laws are legislated • Garland (2001) => Politicians are pressured to do something to response the public. • Then, what affects the opinion of the public? => Moral Panic, Media

7. Moral Panic • Jenkins (1998) • Definition => The intensity of feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the “social order”. • i.e. “moral panic” refers to an exaggerated public’s response to an event. The response cold be called as “exaggerated” because the public feels more frightened about the situation than actual real threat.

8. Moral Panic (Jenkins, 1998) • In his book, Jenkins contends that “sexual psychopath laws” or “sexual predator laws” are the response of politicians to suppress the public’s rage on cruel sex offenders. • He adds that the sex crimes committed by strangers are very uncommon cases. One or two cases influence the public, and new law is legislated to satisfy the morally panicked persons by politicians.

9. Moral Panic concludes with a paradox … “although much evidence suggests that abuse is most likely to occur in the domestic or neighborhood setting, with family and neighbors as culprits, concepts of the problem place the blame on outside forces – on fiends and psychopaths, pedophiles and predators. And of all the possible responses to the issue – psychological, educational, social, or welfare-oriented – official action will inevitably take the form of penal sanctions imposed by the criminal-justice system on these outsider figures” (Jenkins, 1998, p. 236). Jenkins then says that this conception allows lawmakers and the rest of us to locate/contain the problem of sexual violence against children in some “outsider predator” that symbolizes/embodies the deepest of human evil. How can this paradox be resolved? JB Helfgott, PhD/Dept of Criminal Justice/Seattle University

10. Watcha DVD – 조두순(나영이) 사건 • Why is moral panic harmful?

11. Megan’s Law Jenkins argues that laws named after child victims (such as “Megan’s Law”) are difficult to vote against.

12. Summary • The influence of politics on policies => Policies are formed by compromise and dominance of many social interest groups. • Politicians sometimes legislate laws to suppress or satisfy the public because they are elected by the public.