Throughout much of the western world more and more people are being sent to prison, one of a number of changes inspired by a 'new punitiveness' in penal and political affairs. This book seeks to understand these developments, bringing together leading authorities in the field to provide a wide-ranging analysis of new penal trends, compare the development of differing patterns of punishment across different types of societies, and to provide a range of theoretical analyses and commentaries to help understand their significance.
As well as increases in imprisonment this book is also concerned to address a number of other aspects of 'the new punitiveness': firstly, the return of a number of forms of punishment previously thought extinct or inappropriate, such as the return of shaming punishments and chain gangs (in parts of the USA); and secondly, the increasing public involvement in penal affairs and penal development, for example in relation to length of sentences and the California Three Strikes Law, and a growing accreditation of the rights of victims.
The book will be essential reading for students seeking to understand trends and theories of punishment on law, criminology, penology and other courses.
1 Introduction Part 1: Punitive Trends 2. The great leap backward: imprisonment in America from Nixon to Clinton 3. Crime control in western countries, 1970 to 2000 4. Continuity, rupture or just more of the 'volatile and contradictory'?: glimpses of New South Wales' penal practice behind and through the discursive 5. Supermax meets death row: legal struggles around the new punitiveness in the USA 6. The liberal veil: revisiting Canadian penality 7. Contemporary statecraft and the 'punitive obsession': a critique of the new penology thesis Part 2: Globalisation, Technology and Surveillance 8. Globalisation and the new punitiveness 9. Engaging with punitive attitudes towards crime and punishment: some strategic lessons from England and Wales 10. The ad and the form: punitiveness and technological culture 11. Electronic monitoring, satellite tracking and the new punitiveness in England and Wales Part 3: Non-Punitive Societies 12. Levels of punitiveness in Scandinavia: description and explanation 13. Missing the punitive turn? Canadian criminal justice, 'balance' and penal modernism 14. When is a society non-punitive? The Italian case Part 4: Explanations 15. Modernity and the punitive 16. Elias, punishment and civilisation 17. Liberal exclusions and the new punitiveness 18. Rethinking narratives of penal change in global context
