Psychology

The United Kingdom has often prided itself on a beacon of civilisation throughout the world.  The world views that have shaped the current state of the nation are known in the hearts of the people as a blend of ideology and popular philosophy.  Socialism has given the nation the idea that taking care of one s own people is vital to the welfare of the entire nation.  The poor need to be somehow protected and, it is hoped, if properly taught, will prove to serve themselves, the community and state in such a way that all will be well for all involved.  Just as children are raised in the hopes that they will become adults who contribute to the society at large, the poor are cared for by the state in the hopes that will prove to be valuable contributors.  The reverse side of this, of course, is the hope of preventing societal rebellion.  The protestations of the poor - the proletariat, have periodically plagued European nations for centuries.  As such - ensuring the poor have food is a great way to prevent civil unrest in a society.

Welfare, therefore, has these two faces and purposes.  The purposes are not  cross  but simply show a government s divergent motives with respect to this important social issue.  Capitalism and representative governance are both reflective of the whole idea of the modern and post-modern human.  The ingenuity of humanity - the intrepid business owners and developers of new technologies and solutions to life s challenges.  There are rules of business - in fair business, good work or services are exchanged for other goods or services of equal or similar value.  Money is the medium of normal exchange - since it can be hard to conceive of how to trade chickens for hair cuts and new clothes.  A society will reward good businesses with success and will punish bad ones, or those improperly run with failure.   What good business practices are is not the subject of this essay.  Suffice it to say, the idea of capitalism, in the best sense, is that it permit s a society to advance and to improve in an efficient and effective manner.  Businesses and therefore work are a normal and integral part of a society s fabric.

The Welfare and Criminal Justice systems of the United Kingdom are designed to help to maintain the social order with both effectiveness and compassion.   The welfare system is also intended to prevent or even to cure criminality.  It is well known that criminality can be closely tied to poverty - mainly since the impoverished are more likely to resort to tactics generally viewed as criminal out of desperation.  At the same time, it is true that many of the disenfranchised and the poorer peoples frequently object that the problem lies in the criminality of the wealthier people in the society who impose their order without much regard for the effects it is having on the lower classes.  One example of the vernacular metaphor for this is when people complain that a region or national leadership have taken to  fleecing the population  for their own benefit.  They are not  injured  they just have no savings for old age or can barely afford their children or problems of that nature.  This reality is constantly and repeatedly being addressed by a variety of public policies.  One of these is the matter of Social Security Fraud.

On this subject, the Social Security Fraud Act 2001 firmly merits a place as
an exemplar of the growing tendency of social security legislation to mirror
the rigours of the criminal law, and in a sense become more punitive. Like
its contemporary counterpart, the CSPSSA 2000, the Social Security Fraud
Act 2001 has introduced a greater degree of criminalization into the
welfare state, forging another tangible link between the criminal justice
system and the law governing the administration of social security. For the
purposes of this article, the most important part of this legislation is s.7,
which allows for the removal or reduction60 of benefit from those offenders
who have been convicted of social security fraud in two instances within
three years.6l

The intention is to punish those who abuse the system by criminalizing their relationship to it.  Social Security is meant to help those who need it, preferably temporarily, not to extend a friendly hand to those who abuse it.   The main objection of course is that those who need it may be the more vulnerable to criminal behaviours and so the claim from that side of it is that such  abusers  of the system require its protection if they are to make any progress at all.  Really, the idea is simply that the government should be more generous


with the people.  Whether or not this is true is a matter of public and private debate.  Both the well informed and the uninformed are inclined to devise and to share opinions on the matter.

One of the major transitions for the United Kingdom has been the latest swing from a conservative party to the Labour Party.  Welfare Reform is part of this change.  The Welfare Reform Bill of 2006 includes some respect for conservative complaints regarding abuse of the system while protecting the benefits for the poor and unemployed from destruction by the extremes of the right wing.    The shift came with John Major, who proved to be a more moderate conservative than Margaret Thatcher.  Following after Major the Labour Party was able to re-take the Prime Minister post with Tony Blair.  This is the third year for Gordon Brown.  During the years of Blair s and Brown s leadership there have been a number of reforms of Welfare services and other means of protecting the state s finances from crime and abuse while simultaneously protecting the poor from the ravages of poverty.

The politicians have intentionally devised the regulations to provide both  carrots and sticks  to the people.  The punitive nature of the rules intended to prevent abuses of the system can also provide an alternative means of punishing criminal behaviour without resorting to the use of police or law courts.  There are definite limits to the punitive nature of the assistance.  For instance, invasive procedures or inquiries are generally avoided, as public policies continue to protect privacy.  In the vast majority of cases, there is nothing significant being hidden from the government or employers that constitutes any concern for public safety.    
       
The article Policy interventions needed  from cradle to grave  to  counter entrenched inequalities published through the London School of Economics and Political Science website looks at this cultural  challenge from a somewhat different perspective.  Here, the role of welfare programs are viewed as needing to be another intervention that prevents poverty or helps people to recover from it.  The role of economic conditions strongly influences the nature of opportunities which are available throughout the duration of an individual s life.  The role of government programs of welfare can also be seen as meaning to provide a helpful intervention in the lives of people when their circumstances have been de-stabilized.  This is the case regardless of whether or not the de-stabilization was their fault or not.  Class, gender and the conditions of  being a minority  continue to have an effect on people s lives in 21st century Great Britain.

During this essay there has been an effort to show understanding and relevance of some of the most salient points gleaned from the OU course Welfare, crime and society.  The length of the essay makes it impossible to cover the entirety of the course.  As such, the emphasis has been on the relationship of criminality, and crime prevention in the welfare system of the UK.  Welfare services have been shown to thwart the effects of both poverty and of crime.  Welfare reform has been shown to have a role in protecting citizens and the nation.  Ironically, one might be able to say that the Welfare Reform Bill of 2006 helps to protect the country from itself.  The system is guarded from being abused by its own people, and the poor have the protection of mitigated circumstances, thanks to the protection of welfare benefits.

The public policies can be viewed as having grown more punitive during the conservative 1980s and 1990s.  The Welfare Reform Bill of 2006 may also be viewed as being more punitive since it includes a focus on weeding out criminals from amongst the recipients of welfare benefits.  While not comprehensive in its approach, this paper addresses a very important aspect of the materials covered throughout the course.  It is hoped that doing so will curb anti-social and criminal behaviour across the society and will improve chances for some to achieve a better quality of life than might have otherwise been available to them.  Society is complex and often analysed only in portions.  This paper gives insight into the relationship between public welfare policies and stability amongst the poor of the UK.