Excavating the archive: reflections on a historical criminology of government, penal policy and criminal justice change

This article makes the case for greater use of systematic archival research as a methodological tool of historical criminology. Drawing upon the authors’ historical study of ‘early release’ in England and Wales (Guiney 2018), it reviews the legal framework underpinning the current ‘right of access’ to official records and demonstrates how greater engagement with this underused public resource can reveal a richer understanding of government, penal policy-making and the continuities and dislocations within contemporary criminal justice. It goes on to consider the methodological challenges of gaining access to historical sources in criminological settings and concludes with a number of reflections upon the evolution of the discipline at a time of digital abundance and significant changes in government record keeping practices.