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The Long Arm Of Welfare Retrenchment: How New Right Socio-Economic Policies In The 1980s Affected Contact With The Criminal Justice System In Adulthood

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  • Emily Gray
  • Stephen Farrall
  • Phil Mike Jones

Abstract

The socio-economic policies of the British ‘New Right’ administrations have been associated with increases in crime using aggregate data. This paper assesses if the trend remains when we test individual-level relationships using two British cohort studies (the National Child Development Study 1958 and the British Cohort Study 1970). Our results point to a set of long-term ‘period effects’ in which those reliant on the welfare state at specific time-points in the 1980 and 1990s (regardless of their age) were more likely to be drawn into the criminal justice system in adulthood (circa 2000). This paper considers (i) how British ‘New Right’ welfare policies may have had unintended, but lasting consequences for individuals in receipt of social security assistance and (ii) the interplay between micro and macro criminological analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Emily Gray & Stephen Farrall & Phil Mike Jones, 2022. "The Long Arm Of Welfare Retrenchment: How New Right Socio-Economic Policies In The 1980s Affected Contact With The Criminal Justice System In Adulthood," The British Journal of Criminology, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, vol. 62(5), pages 1175-1195.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:crimin:v:62:y:2022:i:5:p:1175-1195.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jamie Jenkins, 2010. "The labour market in the 1980s, 1990s and 2008/09 recessions," Economic & Labour Market Review, Palgrave Macmillan;Office for National Statistics, vol. 4(8), pages 29-36, August.
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    5. Price V. Fishback & Ryan S. Johnson & Shawn Kantor, 2010. "Striking at the Roots of Crime: The Impact of Welfare Spending on Crime during the Great Depression," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(4), pages 715-740.
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    Cited by:

    1. François Bonnet, 2025. "Less Eligibility, Welfare, and Punishment: The Econometric Evidence," Post-Print halshs-05165960, HAL.

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