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Stevens, A. orcid.org/0000-0002-4878-3871, Schreeche-Powell, E., Billingham, L. et al. (1 more author) (2025) Interventionitis in the criminal justice system: three English cases. Critical Criminology. ISSN 1205-8629
Abstract
This article highlights the problem it names as ‘interventionitis’; the tendency of policymakers to treat enduring, systemically generated problems with limited interventions that are insufficient or inappropriate for the intended improvement. We outline three typical features of interventionitis; over confidence in these quick fixes, the iatrogenic effect of unintended harms caused by such interventions, and the focus on surface-level rather than systemic change. We then present three cases of interventionitis in the contemporary criminal justice system of England and Wales: the placement of police officers in schools, drug testing on arrest, and the peer-led induction programme in prisons. We support an alternative approach that adds consideration of inequalities, institutions and interactions alongside interventions. Interventionitis can be observed across the English and Welsh criminal justice system. It limits the prospects for taking steps to reduce the harms caused by crime and its control.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > School of Law |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Dec 2024 14:11 |
Last Modified: | 10 Feb 2025 14:06 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Springer |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s10612-024-09808-x |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:220214 |
Available Versions of this Item
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Interventionitis in the criminal justice system: three English case reports. (deposited 10 Feb 2025 14:47)
- Interventionitis in the criminal justice system: three English cases. (deposited 11 Dec 2024 14:11) [Currently Displayed]