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Penal Systems
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Penal Systems
A Comparative Approach

  • Michael Cavadino - University of Central Lancashire, UK
  • James Dignan - formerly Professor of Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Leeds


November 2005 | 400 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

Penal Systems: A Comparative Approach is a comprehensive and original introduction to the comparative study of punishment.

Analyzing twelve countries, authors Michael Cavadino and James Dignan offer an integrated and theoretically rigorous approach to comparative penology. They draw upon material provided by a team of eminent penologists to produce an important and highly readable contribution to scholarship in this area.

Early chapters introduce the reader to comparative penology, set out the theoretical framework and consider whether there is currently a 'global penal crisis.' Each country is then discussed in turn. Chapters on comparative youth justice and the privatization of prisons follow. Comparisons between countries are drawn within each chapter, giving the reader a synoptic and truly comparative vision of penality in different jurisdictions.


David Downes
Foreword
 
PART ONE: ABOUT COMPARATIVE PENOLOGY
 
Introducing Comparative Penology
 
PENAL SYSTEMS IN CRISIS?
 
Globalized Penal Crisis?
 
The United States of America
Law and Order Ideology, Hyperincarceration and Looming Crisis

 
 
England and Wales
Stop-Go and the Upwards Zig-Zag

 
 
Australia and New Zealand
Neo-Liberal Punitiveness Down Under

 
 
South Africa
The Transition From Apartheid

 
 
Germany
Archetypal Corporatism

 
 
The Netherlands
A Beacon of Tolerance Dimmed

 
 
France and Italy
Corporatism and Catholicism

 
 
Sweden and Finland
Nordic Social Democracy

 
 
Japan
Iron Fist in a Velvet Penal Glove

 
 
PART TWO: PATTERNS OF PENALITY
 
Comparative Youth Justice
 
Neo-Liberal Youth Justice Systems
 
Youth Justice Systems: Corporatist Variants
 
General Patterns in Youth Justice?
 
Prison Privatization
 
PART THREE: IN CONCLUSION
 
'A Boot Stamping on a Human Face Forever?'

'Cavadino and Dignan's Penal Systems: A Comparative Approach looks across national boundaries to see how penal systems differ and why. It is hands-down the most comprehensive and up-to-date book on the subject and should become a staple textbook for use in law and social science courses on comparative penal policy and practice' - Michael H. Tonry,

University of Minnesota

'This book is an important addition to the literature on punishment. It is a highly readable and very well researched overview of some of the major differences in punitiveness between neo-liberal, corporatist and social democratic countries… This is a major contribution to comparative penology by two of the leading authors in this field' - Alison Liebling, Director of the Prisons Research Centre, UK

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter One

Chapter Two


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ISBN: 9781446233948

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ISBN: 9780761952022
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This title is also available on SAGE Knowledge, the ultimate social sciences online library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial.