Book review of Harry Annison's "Dangerous Politics: Risk, Political Vulnerability and Penal Policy"

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Abstract

Harry Annison’s Dangerous Politics is an in-depth study of the ‘creation, contestation, amendment, and abolition’ of the controversial indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) (Annison, 2016: 3). The book addresses the important question, first posed by Brown (2010: 43), of ‘why, in modern liberal societies, do we seem so willing to trade away the liberty rights of those deemed dangerous and why in such a wholesale fashion?’ (p. xi). Annison uses a framework of ‘interpretive political analysis’ (p. xii) to explore how and why the IPP sentence came into existence, and why potentially restraining influ-
ences appeared to have little effect on the progress of a policy that was to prove so damaging. By weaving a rich and authoritative narrative, he skilfully incorporates materials from an impressive 63 qualitative interviews with key actors and observers, including politicians, civil servants, special advisers, judges and criminal justice practitioners.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-3
Number of pages3
JournalTheoretical Criminology
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Sept 2016

Bibliographical note

© The Author(s) 2016 This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.

Keywords

  • dangerous offenders, criminal justice

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