Crime Control, American Style

This chapter analyses the process by which this mode of governance was adopted in the United States and examines the consequences of its adoption for international policy debates. It argues that the ascendance of the “get-tough” approach in the United States is a consequence of the reorientation of government policy around social control rather than social welfare. The chapter analyses the impact of growing rates of incarceration in the United States on assessments of the US economy and the welfare states of Western Europe. It also argues that the incarceration of large numbers of working-age men in the United States conceals a high level of persistent unemployment, particularly among African-American men. The effort to reshape government policy around social control rather than social welfare has had important consequences for US social policy, and in particular, for welfare programmes aimed at the poor. The “American model”, ostensibly characterised by an unregulated labour market, is contrasted with the co-called “Continental model”.