Responses to Crime: Volume 2: Penal Policy in the Making

Policies dealing with crime are a central feature of contemporary British political life. Crime and crime statistics receive wide exposure and evoke strong public outcry, and politicians are often judged as much by the speed and tone of their reactions as by their considered responses. In this timely sequel to his seminal work Responses to Crime, Lord Windlesham examines how criminal justice policy is first formulated and then enacted at Parliamentary and Government levels. Drawing upon scholarly material and his experience as a former Home Office Minister, Lord Windlesham identifies the pressures which traditionally and typically influence policy decisions. Emerging from his scholarly and accessible analysis is an appreciation of how the articulation of policy is often less coherent than it seems.

Lord Windlesham has served as Chairman of the Parole Board for England and Wales, a Minister at the Home Office and for Northern Ireland, and as Leader of the House of Lords. He is well-known as the author of the report on his inquiry into the controversial TV programme `Death on the Rock' (co-written with Richard Rampton QC). He also has extensive media contacts, so we expect the book to receive wide coverage: he is an independent director of The Observer and a former Managing Director of Grampian TV and Chairman of ATV. He is also a non-executive director of the W. H. Smith Group. The first volume of Responses to Crime was published by OUP in 1987 and is very highly regarded (see reviews). He lives in Burford, Oxfordshire.