Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Comparative Penology

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Prisons and Imprisonment

  • 451 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter will explore: trends in imprisonment worldwide; the challenges of comparing penal systems; how imprisonment reflects wider society; and comparisons between penal systems of the United States, Norway, and England and Wales.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 34.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References/Further Reading

  • Alexander, M. (2016, February 10). Why Hillary Clinton doesn’t deserve the Black vote. The Nation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amnesty International. (2020). Amnesty International Global Report: Death sentences and executions 2019. Amnesty International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amnesty International. (2021). “Like we were enemies in a war”: China’s mass internment, torture and persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang. https://xinjiang.amnesty.org/#arbitrary-detention. Accessed 16 Mar 2021.

  • Behan, C. (2022). No longer a ‘collateral consequence’: Imprisonment and the reframing of citizenship. Euroepan Journal of Criminology, 19(6), 1283–1303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bottoms, A. E. (1995). The philosophy and politics of punishment and sentencing. In C. Clarkson & R. Morgan (Eds.), The politics of sentencing reform (pp. 17–49). Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brangan, L. (2020). Exceptional states: The political geography of comparative penology. Punishment and Society, 22(3), 596–616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canning, V., & Tombs, S. (2021). From social harm to zemiology: A critical introduction. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cavadino, M., & Dignan, J. (2006). Penal systems: A comparative approach. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavadino, M., Dignan, J., Mair, G., & Bennett, J. (2020). The penal system: An introduction. Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darke, S. (2013). Inmate governance in Brazilian prisons. The Howard Journal, 52(3), 272–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demleitner, N. (2018). Collateral sanctions and American exceptionalism: A comparative perspective. In K. Reitz (Ed.), American exceptionalism in crime and punishment. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dünkel, F. (2017). European penology: The rise and fall of prison population rates in Europe in times of migrant crises and terrorism. European Journal of Criminology, 14(6), 629–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fair, H., & Walmsley, R. (2021). World prison population list (13th ed.). https://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/world_prison_population_list_13th_edition.pdf. Accessed 2 Jan 2022.

  • Farrall, S., & Hay, C. (2014). The legacy of Thatcherism: Assessing and exploring Thatcherite social and economic policies. Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Farrall, S., Burke, N., & Hay, C. (2016). Revisiting Margaret Thatcher’s law and order agenda: The slow-burning fuse of punitiveness. British Politics, 11(2), 205–231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garland, D. (2001). The culture of control: Crime and social order in contemporary society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, D. (2018). Theoretical advances and problems in the sociology of punishment. Punishment and Society, 22(1), 8–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, D. (2019). Punishment and welfare revisited. Punishment and Society, 21(3), 267–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garland, D. (2020). Penal controls and social controls: Toward a theory of American penal exceptionalism. Punishment and Society, 22(3), 321–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garton Grimwood, G. (2014). Prisons: The role of the private sector. Standard Note: SN/HA/6811. House of Commons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gayle, D. (2021, November 17). Nine Insulate Britain activists jailed for breach of road blockades injunction. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/17/nine-insulate-britain-activists-jailed-for-breach-of-road-blockades-injunction. Accessed 16 Mar 2022.

  • Grierson, J., & Duncan, P. (2019, May 13). Private jails more violent than public ones, data analysis shows. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/13/private-jails-more-violent-than-public-prisons-england-wales-data-analysis. Accessed 29 Mar 2022.

  • Gröning, L. (2014). Education for foreign inmates in Norwegian prisons: A legal and humanitarian perspective. Bergen Journal of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 2(2), 164–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hillyard, P., Sim, J., Tombs, S., & Whyte, D. (2004). Leaving a stain upon the silence: Contemporary criminolgy and the politics of dissent. British Journal of Criminology, 44(3), 369–390.

    Google Scholar 

  • ICPR (Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research). (2022). World prison brief. https://www.prisonstudies.org/world-prison-brief-data. Accessed 29 Mar 2022.

  • Lacey N., Soskice, D., & Hope, D. (2017). Understanding the determinants of penal policy: Crime, culture and comparative penal policy (LSE Working Paper 13).

    Google Scholar 

  • Lammy, D. (2017). An independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, black, Asian and minority ethic individuals in the criminal justice system. The Stationery Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laursen, J., Mjåland, K., & Crewe, B. (2020). “It’s like a sentence before the sentence”—Exploring the pains and possibilities of waiting for imprisonment. British Journal of Criminology, 60(2), 363–381.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lappi-Seppälä. (2002). Penal policy and incarceration Rates in Finland. Corrections Today, 64(1), 30–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lappi-Seppälä, T. (2018). American exceptionalism in comparative perspective: Explaining trends and variation in the use of incarceration. In K. Reitz (Ed.), American exceptionalism in crime and punishment. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mauer, M. (2011). Addressing racial disparities in incarceration. The Prison Journal, 91(3) (supp), 87–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, C. (2013). International growth trends in prison privatization. The Sentencing Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, R., & Stuart, F. (2017). Carceral citizenship: Race, rights and responsibility in the age of mass supervision. Theoretical Criminology, 21(4), 532–548.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulgrew, R. (2016). Foreign prisoners: Findings of a study in foreign national only prisons in Norway and the Netherlands. http://www.cep-probation.org/foreign-prisoners-findings-of-a-study-in-foreign-national-only-prisons-in-norway-and-the-netherlands/. Accessed 1 Mar 2022.

  • Nellis, A. (2021). No end in sight: America’s enduring Reliance on life imprisonment. The Sentencing Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelken, D. (2007). Comparing criminal justice. In M. Maguire, R. Morgan, & R. Reiner (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of criminology (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newburn, T. (2007). ‘Tough on crime’: Penal policy in England and wales. Crime and Justice, 36(1), 425–470.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newburn, T. (2020). Understanding comparative penality: Some continuing conceptual and analytical challenges. In T. Daems & S. Pleysier (Eds.), Criminology and democratic politics (pp. 103–120). Routledge.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Norwegian Correctional Service. (2021). Annual report 2020. Norwegian Correctional Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penal Reform International. (2021). Global Prison Trends 2021: Special focus- prisons in crises. PRI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piacentini, L. (2013). The Russian Penal System. In V. Ruggiero & M. Ryan (Eds.), Punishment in Europe: A critical anatomy of penal systems (pp. 157–182). Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prat, J. (2008a). Scandinavian Exceptionalism in an Era of Penal Excess. Part1: The Nature and Roots of Scandinavian Exceptionalism. British Journal of Criminology, 48, 119–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prat, J. (2008b). Scandinavian Exceptionalism in an Era of Penal Excess. Part II: Does Scandinavian Exceptionalism have a future? British Journal of Criminology, 48, 275–292.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prison Policy Initiative. (2020). Just how overcrowded were prisons before the pandemic. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/12/21/overcrowding/. Accessed 20 September 2021.

  • Prison Reform Trust. (2022). Bromley briefings prison factfile winter 2022. Prison Reform Trust.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prison Reform Trust. (2005). Private punishment: Who profits? Prison Reform Trust.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reitz, K. (Ed.). (2018). American exceptionalism in crime and punishment. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, G., McNeill, F., & Maruna, S. (2013). Punishment in society: The improbable persistence of probation and other community sanctions and measures. In J. Simon & R. Sparks (Eds.), Handbook of punishment and society (pp. 320–341). Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggiero, V., & Ryan, M. (Eds.) (2013). Punishment in Europe: A Critical Anatomy of Penal Systems. Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, M. (2013). Introduction. In V. Ruggiero & M. Ryan (Eds.) Punishment in Europe: A Critical Anatomy of Penal Systems. Palgrave macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sentencing Project. (2013). Report of the sentencing project to the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding racial disparities in the United States criminal justice system. Sentencing Project.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sentencing Project. (2021a). Trends in US corrections. https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021a/07/Trends-in-US-Corrections.pdf. Accessed 22 Dec 2021.

  • Sentencing Project. (2021b). State-by-state data: Maine compared to Oklahoma. https://www.sentencingproject.org/the-facts/#detail?state1Option=Maine&state2Option=Oklahoma. Accessed 22 Dec 2021.

  • Shammas, V. L. (2014). The pains of freedom: Assessing the ambiguity of penal exceptionalism on Norway’s prison island. Punishment and Society, 16(1), 104–123.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, J. (2007). Governing through crime: How the war on crime transformed American democracy and created a culture of fear. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. (2017). Punishment without conviction? Scandinavian pre-trial practices and the power of the ‘Benevolent’ state. In P. Scharff Smith & T. Ugelvik (Eds.), Scandinavian penal history, culture and prison practice: Embraced by the welfare state? (pp. 129–155). Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparks, R. (2001). Degrees of estrangement: The cultural theory of risk and comparative penology. Theoretical Criminology, 5(2), 159–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Subramanian, R., Delaney, R., Roberts, S., Fishman, N., & McGarry, P. (2015). Incarceration’s front door: The misuse of jails in America. Vera Institute of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sykes, G. (1958). The society of captives: A study of a maximum-security prison. Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, M. (2021, April 5). Extinction Rebellion to step up campaign against banking system. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/05/extinction-rebellion-to-step-up-campaign-against-banking-system-climate-crisis. Accessed 10 June 2022.

  • Travis, J. (2002). Invisible punishment: An instrument of social exclusion. In M. Mauer & M. Chesney Lind (Eds.), Invisible punishment: The collateral consequences of mass imprisonment (pp. 15–36). The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tripkovic, M. (2019). Punishment and citizenship: A theory of criminal disenfranchisement. Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ugelvik, T., & Dullum, J. (Eds.) (2012). Penal exceptionalism? Nordic prison policy and practice. Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations. (2021). United Nations System common position on incarceration. United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2015). Standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules). UNODC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, K. (2021). Resisting the new punitiveness: Penal policy in Denmark, Finland, and Norway and contrary trends in Ireland. In L. Leonard (Ed.), Global perspectives on people, process, and practice in criminal justice (pp. 110–143). IGI Global.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warr, J. (2016). The deprivatino of certitude: Foreign national prisoners and the pains of imprisonment. Criminology and Criminal Justice, 16(3), 301–318.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences, Law, and Education, Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Cormac Behan

  2. School of Justice, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK

    Abigail Stark

Authors
  1. Cormac Behan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Abigail Stark
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cormac Behan .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Behan, C., Stark, A. (2023). Comparative Penology. In: Prisons and Imprisonment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09301-2_13

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09301-2_13

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-09300-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-09301-2

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation