[2] These ideas have received increased attention from critical academics such as neo-Marxists and feminists who have sought to create an independent field of study, separate from criminology, that studies the harms that affect individuals' lives that are not considered to be criminal or are rarely criminalised such as mortgage misselling, poverty and unemployment.
[1][3] Hillyard and Tombs outline a number of criticisms of criminology and crime:[4] Hillyard and Tombs argue that the criminal justice system fails to protect people from criminal harms whilst inflicting serious harms on those people who travel through the system.
However, current criminal justice policy within countries like the UK continues to champion the use of prison as a means to deal with social problems.
More specifically, domestic burglary has fallen by 59%, vehicle theft has decreased by 61% and violent crimes have experienced a reduction of 41%.
The probability of a criminal re-offending is determined by external factors including having a stable family life, a home and a job.
that the prison is being used as a mechanism to deal with social problems as spending on welfare benefits and services has decreased.
[7] Of those prisoners diagnosed with a mental health problem: 50% of these prisoners are not registered with a GP; 42% of men with a psychotic disorder received no emotional or mental support in the previous year before imprisonment; 79% of men with a personality disorder received no emotional or mental support in the previous year before imprisonment; 46% have been arrested having never received any benefits despite their disorder; over a third are sleeping rough and over two thirds are not in education or training.
[8] However, there are a number of events that cause large amounts of physical harm and even death, which are rarely considered crime or criminalised.
In the UK, The Labour Force Survey found that 228 people were killed while working due to a work-related incident and 2.2 million people with illnesses in the UK believed their condition was made worse by their past or current job.
A report issued by the British Health and Safety Executive found that 16% of workers were working over 60 hours a week.
More than 3 million homeowners face the likelihood that their endowment policy, when it matures, will be worth too little to pay off the mortgage.
60% of endowment mortgages are not on track to cover the original debt and 39,000 complainants looking to receive approximately £126 million.
[14] Whilst the UK and other liberal democracies spend large resources on their respective criminal justice systems, other regulatory and policy responses remain less well funded considering the extent and the serious nature of the harms they seek to prevent.
These were worker-led Industrial Tribunal claims and the minimum wage enforcement teams (Inland Revenue).
If the employer refuses to comply with this requirement, penalty enforcement is issued which orders the firm to not only repay the worker (s), but to also pay a substantial fine.
Yet a number of academics attribute the current levels of inequality in the UK to a series of policy decisions that have been made over the last 30 years.
The poorest groups in society have seen their income and wealth affected by developments such as the decreasing value of benefits in real terms, the deregulation of labour markets etc., whilst the rich have seen their wealth grow primarily as a result of the changes made in the UK tax system since 1979.
Moreover, tax havens have increased and become common place which has enabled wealthy individuals and companies to avoid taxation regimes.
Large numbers of people each year lose their lives due to injuries and diseases that result from their work.
In addition, 2.1 million people were suffering from an illness they believed was caused or made worse by their current or past work.
[26] Despite these large scale harms, the principal regulatory in the UK, the Health and Safety Executive, has faced continuing cuts, most notably the 2006 £5.6m reduction in the HSE budget.
[27] This has had major implications for the ability of the HSE to regulate workplaces with a decreasing numbers of regulatory contacts.