Congruence Testing

Abstract

This chapter takes the ideas developed by historical institutionalists and constructivists and applies them to four further countries in order to assess the extent to which New Right thinking and social and economic policies may have had an impact on both crime rates and the responses to these in Australia, the USA, New Zealand and Sweden. Each case study starts by outlining New Right policies in that country followed by a discussion of criminal justice policies and responses to rising property crime rates. Although not conclusive, the case studies suggest that for the four countries explored, rises in property crime followed New Right government policies, and decreases were associated with ‘get tough’ messages of crime.