LAUSR

This is the first issue of the Probation Journal in 2020. Since the last issue of the journal was published the United Kingdom has voted in a new government and it has left the European Union. The topic of Brexit has consumed the body politic in the 3 years since the referendum vote in June 2016, with the result that much of government work has been consumed with this issue. The election manifestoes of the different political parties all spoke to a need to refocus attention on the domestic agenda, and the topic of law and order was notable by its prominence alongside commitments towards investment in health services and education. The Conservative Party has committed to increasing the numbers of police, extending prison sentences for certain offences and increasing the number of prison places in England and Wales, despite the fact that this country currently has one of the highest rates of imprisonment in Western Europe (Aebi and Tiago, 2019). Tragically, the issue of law and order came to further prominence in a terror attack during the election campaign, where Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt were murdered at a Learning Together conference in central London on 29th November. The aftermath of this terrible event led to media debates about the utility of rehabilitation and further politicisation of law and order, despite criticisms from the families of the victims to not use their deaths in this way. Writing in the Guardian, Dave Merritt, the father of Jack Merritt wrote: