Full Description
This thought-provoking Research Handbook explores how penal policies are shaped, contested, and transformed. It examines the development of penal strategies, analysing why systems converge in some areas and diverge in others.
Leading scholars and experts highlight emerging trends and challenges in the field, covering key topics including policy transfer, penal populism, technocratic approaches to penal policy, the influence of human rights, outcome assessment of penal policy decisions, and decarceration strategies. The chapters examine penal governance and the politics of crime and punishment, investigating how decisions about penal interventions are made, as well as the values, interests, and practical constraints which influence them. Combining theoretical examination and normative inquiry with a cross-national perspective and real-world analysis, the Handbook bridges theory and practice, serving as a foundational resource for engaging with contemporary debates in penal policy.
This Research Handbook is an essential read for scholars and students of criminal law, criminal justice, and criminology. It is also beneficial for policymakers and criminal justice practitioners looking to better understand the complex forces shaping penal policy across diverse national and institutional contexts.
Contents
Contents
Preface and acknowledgements xvi
Series editors' preface xviii
1 Introduction to the Research Handbook on Penal Policy: What is "penal policy"? Why does it matter? 1
Alessandro Corda
PART I FRAMINGS AND ORIENTATIONS
2 Penal policy and penal change 21
Ashley T. Rubin
3 Policy transfer, policy mobility, and policy hegemony in the penal field 43
Alessandro Corda
4 Penal populism and populist politics 65
John Pratt
5 Punishment and technocracy: Penal populism, elitism, and the "buffered ideal" in the sociology of punishment 86
Victor Lund Shammas
6 The influence of human rights on penal policymaking 110
Mattia Pinto
7 The 'collateral effects' of criminalization choices: From conceptual definitions to operational strategies 131
Martina Galli
PART II UNDERLYING STRUCTURAL/NORMATIVE DIMENSIONS
8 Should the criminal law be a last resort? 153
Douglas Husak
9 Proportionality and penal policy 170
Youngjae Lee
10 Legitimacy and moderation in penal policy: Penological evidence between penal populism and penal hope 189
Sonja Snacken
11 Political ideologies and penal policy 214
Zelia A. Gallo
12 Political economy and penal policies 237
Ignacio González-Sánchez and José A. Brandariz
PART III JURISDICTIONAL INSIGHTS
13 The politics of sentencing reform in the context of mass incarceration in the United States 254
Katherine Beckett
14 Crisis and penal policymaking in England and Wales: Concepts, theories and future directions 271
Harry Annison and Thomas Guiney
15 Penal policy and punishment in Brazil: Punitivism and the punitive turn from a Global South perspective 290
Marcos César Alvarez, Fernando Salla and Maiara Corrêa
16 Punishment and penal policies in the People's Republic of China: Instrumentalism, bifurcation, and evolutionary values 309
Enshen Li
17 The penal policy of the European Union: Scope, legitimacy, and effectiveness 328
Nina Peršak
PART IV COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES AND CONTRASTS
18 Nordic penal policies and practices: Myths and realities 346
Klara Hermansson
19 Challenges of comparative penal policy research in penal systems of the Global South: Some lessons from South America 362
Bertha Prado Manrique
20 Why dictators decarcerate: Understanding decarceration trends in Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan 383
Gavin Slade, Umidjon Toshimov and Alexei Trochev
21 Bringing law back into penal policy research: The evolution of criminal legislation in France, Germany, and beyond 402
Johanna Nickels
PART V PENAL POLICY ON THE GROUND
22 A very British arms race: Three decades of law-and-order politics 427
Shami Chakrabarti
23 Penal policy reform at the micro level: Reflections on penal policy change in the criminalization of grooming in Australia 438
Anne-Marie McAlinden
24 Reforming policing from the White House: The challenges of implementing police reform through executive order 447
Catherine Crump
25 Yesterday's terrorist: Sirhan Sirhan and the birth of just deserts 466
Hadar Aviram
26 Developing international prison standards: A personal perspective 487
Dirk van Zyl Smit
27 Inside the penal policy control room: An academic's perspective 506
Gian Luigi Gatta
PART VI LOOKING FORWARD: CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH QUESTIONS, DEBATES AND PROSPECTS
28 Danger, blame, and hostility: The cultural structure of penality 520
Henrique Carvalho
29 Penal policy and technological development 537
Manja Skočir and Aleš Završnik
30 Algorithmic futures: Risk assessment and prediction in the penal realm 557
Robert Werth, Fernando Avila and Chloe Haimson
31 Questioning the logic of criminalization and penal policy: Abolitionist aspirations and the search for transformative justice 579
Michael J. Coyle and David Scott
32 Final thoughts: Penal policy in an increasingly complex world 598
Alessandro Corda
