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26 July 2007 / Adrian Turner
Issue: 7283 / Categories: Features , Legal aid focus , Profession
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Re-balancing justice

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How has the criminal justice system changed under Labour? Adrian Turner investigates

The Conservative party has long been proud to call itself the party of law and order, but the Margaret Thatcher years saw little significant development in criminal justice policy until the enactment of the surprisingly liberal—if not socialist in relation to unit fines—Criminal Justice Act 1991. It was not until Michael Howard became home secretary that the mantle was picked up with any real “right wing” intent, and it proved popular. This would not have escaped the notice of the New Labour image makers, but with the leading personnel that the party had we would probably have seen a “tougher” Labour government in any event. It was thanks to the opposition that the last Conservative administration was able to get the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997—mandatory sentences and all—onto the statute books before the general election.

INITIAL LABOUR REFORMS

Following its electoral triumph, the new government set about the reform of criminal justice as it had promised. Some of this—such as the procedural

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