NCJ Number
158666
Date Published
1995
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This overview of correctional issues in Western Europe focuses on several issues highlighted by the other authors in the volume as important to the development and consolidation of the correctional systems in particular countries; these include the processes of bifurcation and harmonization; the politics of crime and deviance; and gender and corrections.
Abstract
Additional issues include the punishment of the powerful, the impact of privatization, the harmful effects of imprisonment, the role of the penal system in a changing political situation, and contradictions and conflicts surrounding the direction of penal policies. The majority of European countries have experienced a process of bifurcation between serious offenders, for whom tough punishment is advocated, and the ordinary offender, for whom more lenient approaches are deemed appropriate. However, by the mid- 1990's, the idea of leniency for ordinary offenders had become increasingly problematic. In addition, the longstanding tendency to focus on particular population groups to justify draconian strategies to maintain order has continued into the 1990's and has extended from drug offenders and organized crime groups to include the unemployed, poor, homeless, immigrants, and others. Gender differences in offender populations and gender issues in correctional policies are also significant issues. A further major theme in European countries is the nonpolicing of the crimes of those who are powerful economically or in other ways. 52 references