This chapter examines the complex relationship between ‘punishment’ and ‘welfare.’ It traces the various ways in which penal systems are influenced by, and interact with, broader systems of social welfare and how these linked institutions function as modes of social control and class control. Following a critical review of the historical and comparative literature—and associated questions of data and method—it discusses how penal and welfare policies relate to the social problems they purport to address and to the political and socio-economic structures within which they operate. ‘Penal-welfarist’ and ‘welfarist’ practices are defined and differentiated, some common elements of practices of punishing and assisting are identified, and the fundamentals of ‘the welfare state’ and its recent neoliberal history are explained.
Chapter
3. Punishment and welfare: social problems and social structures
David Garland
Book
Polly Morgan
Family Law illustrates the diverse applications of modern family law through real-world scenarios. It starts off by looking at marriage and civil partnership. It moves on to financial provision on divorce and cohabitants and remedies not dependent on divorce. It looks at financial support for children and the various protections in place for domestic abuse. Parenthood and parental responsibility are examined in detail. Children’s rights and welfare are also looked into. Finally, the book considers private law disputes and children and child protection in terms of state support and care, supervision, and adoption.
Chapter
1. Introduction
Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter begins with an overview of human rights and how ideas about rights have changed over time, from the intellectual enlightenment of the eighteenth century that emphasised the connection between natural rights and dignity, to the rise of consequentialist philosophers in the nineteenth century who challenged natural rights and insisted on the promotion of a common good or welfare. It then considers the historical development of rights and the emergence of international protection of human rights in the twentieth century as a result of war and atrocity, focusing on the war crime trials and the formation of the United Nations after the Second World War. The chapter also looks at the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and the creation of treaties as well as regional agreements, before concluding with an assessment of human rights today and categories of rights, along with human rights in the UK.
Chapter
14. The Welfare Principle
N V Lowe, G Douglas, E Hitchings, and R Taylor
This chapter is concerned with the foundational principle of child law: the welfare principle. It discusses the contested meaning of ‘welfare’ in s 1 of the Children Act 1989, particularly through evaluation of the terms outlined in the welfare checklist. This includes consideration of matters such as the weight to be given to children’s wishes and feelings. The meaning of ‘paramountcy’ is then discussed, including assessment of the impact of the Human Rights Act 1998 and an explanation of the circumstances in which welfare is not paramount. The chapter then turns to the impact of the presumption of parental involvement, ‘no order’ principle and the need to avoid undue delay on the assessment of a child’s welfare.
Chapter
35. The punishment-welfare relationship: history, sociology, and politics
David Garland
The relationship between ‘punishment’ and ‘welfare’ is by now a well-established topic of theory and research in historical, sociological, and comparative studies of punishment. In recent years that relationship—and in particular the balance between penal and welfare approaches—has also become a focal point for social movements working to transform criminal justice, and more generally for activists seeking to shift power and resources away from police and prisons towards social service and public health approaches to crime control. This chapter discusses the punishment-welfare relationship as a matter of history, sociology, and comparative social policy, summarizing what we know, identifying promising lines of research, and commenting on key areas of contention. As a theoretical matter, it is argued that future research ought to view penal and welfare policies in relation to the underlying social problems these policies purportedly address and also in relation to the larger social and economic structures that shape these social problems and the policies that deal with them. By way of political commentary, some considerations are noted that should be borne in mind by activists pressing for a wholesale shift from penal to welfare modes of crime-control.
