Understanding Crime and Social Policy aims ‘to explore the interface between crime and social policy, drawing on theoretical developments and empirical research from within both criminology and social policy’ (p. 3). It does this by focusing upon three main themes; partnership working, funding arrangements (particularly payment by results) and the evidence-base of policy interventions, and by examining the nature of the policy-making process and case studies of three policy areas (the resettlement of former prisoners, ‘problem’ drug’ use and problematised families). The book is written for a student and professional audience.

The first chapter sets the scene for the rest of the book by outlining the chronological (primarily post-1979) and conceptual (discussion of the disciplinary boundaries of social policy and criminology, and the defining of crime) parameters of the book. Chapter 2 expands on the introduction through discussion of the idea of the criminalisation of social policy, the ways in which in recent years order has become defined as problematic and the ways in which ‘new’ Labour constructed the ‘anti-social’.

Chapters 3 and 4 are focused upon the policy-making and implementation processes. Chapter 3 examines the policy-making process by introducing theoretical approaches to understanding its complexities, the key individuals and institutions involved in policy making, and the ideas of policy transfer and evidence-based policy making. Chapter 4 focuses upon the implementation of crime and social policy. Acknowledging that there is not an easy distinction between policy making and implementation, the chapter focuses upon key concepts (for example, managerialism, partnership and marketisation) that govern the ways in which policies are delivered.

Chapter 5 examines the crime policy (including recent changes to the probation service, the changing role of the voluntary sector and the development of the social impact bond, and the Resettlement Pathfinders), and social policy (housing and employment) aspects of the resettlement of former prisoners. Chapter 6 explores policy making in relation to ‘problem’ drug use. Arguing that policy making is ‘messy’ in relation to drug use, the chapter focuses upon a recent history of drug strategies in England, the development of the Drugs Intervention Programme and the more recent focus upon abstinence. Chapter 6 also questions whether legislation helps or hinders in the development of policies governing drug use.

Chapter 7 examines contemporary concerns with ‘troubled’ or ‘troublesome’ families. The chapter focuses upon the ways in which familial issues can be considered as risk and preventative factors in relation to crime, and considers the UK's Coalition government's Troubled Families agenda. Chapter 8 concludes the book by considering the extent to which neoliberal societies can be understood as being governed through crime.

The strengths of Understanding Crime and Social Policy lie in its focus upon the intersections of crime and social policy, which, as is noted in the first chapter, is often lacking in the literature of both disciplines; its introduction of the policy-making process to readers and the actors and institutions involved in it, and its discussion of some pertinent areas of concern that are served well by an approach that recognises their crime and social policy dimensions. There is also a good amount of critical engagement with ideas and evidence that frame the substantive concerns of Understanding Crime and Social Policy.

The more problematic aspects of Understanding Crime and Social Policy relate to theoretical and conceptual issues. It was unclear, for example, why the focus of the concluding chapter was upon neoliberalism when it had not appeared to any great extent in the preceding chapters. And why, when it is employed in the analysis in the conclusion, it is used in the rather narrow sense to refer to marketisation (p. 131). Marketisation is essentially an expression of neoliberalism's broader concern with relationships between the individual, the state and society. In this broader context, one could envisage how neoliberalism could have been used as a theoretical framework to understand many of the developments that Understanding Crime and Social Policy focuses upon. It has, for instance, explanatory potential in areas (in addition, to ways in which UK governments have attempted to deliver policies outside of the state sector) central to many of the issues covered by the book (for example, consumerism and spaces of consumption, the economic costs of criminal justice and social policy, paid work, problematised families and ‘responsibilisation’).

There were also instances where Understanding Crime and Social Policy would have benefited from greater explanation and discussion of some of the key concepts in contemporary policy developments. So, for example, a greater discussion of ‘criminalisation’ (who has power to criminalise, who tends to be criminalised and why), ‘responsibilisation’ (which is a broader project than ‘the transfer of state responsibilities to the market’, p. 59) and localism (for instance, its contested nature) would have helped to make the analysis clearer in places and to point to further complexities in the introduction and development of policies.

That said, there is little doubt that Understanding Crime and Social Policy successfully does what it sets out to do. It provides an introduction to pertinent issues where policy concerns with crime and social diswelfares more generally conjoin. It provides a useful overview of the complex and, as is noted, often messy business of policy making through the use of some very contemporary and relevant examples of areas of crime and social policy concern.