The Prisoners' Dilemma

Political Economy and Punishment in Contemporary Democracies
Erscheinungsjahr 2008
ISBN: 978-0-521-89947-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 230 Seiten, Format (B × H): 138 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 460 g

Reihe: The Hamlyn Lectures

Over the last two decades, and in the wake of increases in recorded crime and other social changes, British criminal justice policy has become increasingly politicised as an index of governments' competence. New and worrying developments, such as the inexorable rise of the US prison population and the rising force of penal severity, seem unstoppable in the face of popular anxiety about crime. But is this inevitable? Nicola Lacey argues that harsh 'penal populism' is not the inevitable fate of all contemporary democracies. Notwithstanding a degree of convergence, globalisation has left many of the key institutional differences between national systems intact, and these help to explain the striking differences in the capacity for penal tolerance in otherwise relatively similar societies. Only by understanding the institutional preconditions for a tolerant criminal justice system can we think clearly about the possible options for reform within particular systems.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lacey, Nicola

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I. Punishment in Contemporary Democracies: 1. 'Penal populism' in comparative perspective; 2. Explaining penal tolerance and severity: criminal justice in the perspective of political economy; Part II. Prospects for the Future: Escaping the Prisoners' Dilemma?: 3. Inclusion and exclusion in a globalizing world: Is penal moderation in co-ordinated market economies under threat?; 4. Confronting the prisoners' dilemma: the room for policy manoeuvre in liberal market economies.

Über Autor(innen)

Lacey, Nicola
Nicola Lacey is Professor of Criminal Law and Legal Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science and an Adjunct Professor at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra.