NCJ Number
216462
Journal
Criminology & Criminal Justice Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: November 2006 Pages: 435-456
Date Published
November 2006
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This study drew on a comparative study of punishment in 12 different countries to explore the link between penal policy and political economy.
Abstract
The analysis indicates that there is a definable and recognizable connection between different types of modern political economy and the severity of punishment given to offenders in different contemporary societies. The political economies of the 12 countries under analysis--the United States, England and Wales, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and Japan--were broadly categorized as neo-liberal, conservative corporatist, social democratic, or oriental corporatist. The authors illustrate how the categorization of the political economies is strongly related to the punitiveness of penal policies and the rates of imprisonment in each country. The reasons for this relationship are discussed and include the operation of commercial interests in encouraging certain penal policies at the expense of others and the influence of penal ideologies from other countries. Another important factor is the degree to which communities are inclusive rather than exclusive toward deviant offenders. The analysis illustrates that despite the phenomenon of globalization, which has become a prominent characteristic of late modern society, the way in which societies treat their offenders will continue to differ because the political economies of different countries continue to vary. Although a degree of “penal globalization” does exist, the convergence of penal policies on a global level has been uneven, leaving stark differences in the nature of punishment across the globe. Table, notes, references