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In the last half of the twentieth century, a once respectable and religious Britain became a seriously violent and dishonest society, one in which person and property were at risk, family breakdown ubiquitous, and drug and alcohol abuse rising.'The Strange Death of Moral Britain'demonstrates in detail the roots of Britain's decline. It also shows how a society, strongly Protestant in both morality and identity, became one of the most secular societies in the world. The culture wars about abortion, capital punishment, and homosexuality that have convulsed the United States have little meaning in Britain, where there is neither a moral majority nor an indigenous emphasis on rights. In the period when Britain had a strong national and religious identity, defense of this identity led to legal persecution of male homosexuals. As Britain's identity crumbled, homosexuality ceased to be an important issue for most people. Similarly, all the pressing questions on abortion, capital punishment, and homosexuality were settled permanently on a purely utilitarian basis in Britain, where all sources of moral argument are weak. The ending of the death penalty marked the decline of the influence of the official hierarchies of church and state, the Church of England, the armed forces, and their representative, the Conservative Party.'The Strange Death of Moral Britain'is a study of moral change, secularization, loss of identity, and the growth of deviant behavior in Britain in the twentieth century. Based on detailed scholarship, it is a tightly argued and clearly written volume that will be of interest to scholars of religious studies and British social history.

Recent legislative and policy developments in contemporary Britain have ushered in a new approach to criminal justice. The focus on criminal dispositions and welfarism has given way to a strategy which now involves the management of social exclusion, dysfunctional and anti-social families and situational crime prevention, leading to what has been widely characterized as the'criminalisation of social policy'- and evidenced most recently by the anti-social behaviour and respect agendas. This book is concerned to explore, analyse and explain these developments. It seeks at the same time to situate the study of anti-social behaviour and response to it in the wider context of changes in the industrial and social structure, social polarization and inequality and the changing role of the welfare state in present-day society. This book will be essential reading for students taking courses in criminology, sociology, criminal justice, social policy and related subjects.