Interventionitis in the criminal justice system: three English case reports

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-optimistic faith in limited interventions, iatrogenic harms from such interventions, and the operation of the cosmetic fallacy in these interventions. 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.