The prisoners' dilemma :: political economy and punishment in contemporary democracies /

"Over the last two decades, in the wake of increases in recorded crime and a cluster of other social changes, British criminal justice policy has become increasingly politicised: both the scale and intensity of punishment and the significance of criminal justice policy as an index of government...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lacey, Nicola
Format: Electronic eBook
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Series:Hamlyn lectures ; 2007.
Subjects:
Online Access:DE-862
DE-863
Summary:"Over the last two decades, in the wake of increases in recorded crime and a cluster of other social changes, British criminal justice policy has become increasingly politicised: both the scale and intensity of punishment and the significance of criminal justice policy as an index of governments' competence have developed in new and worrying ways. Across the Atlantic, we witness the inexorable rise of the US prison population, amid a ratcheting-up of penal severity which seems 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 moderation of 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."--Jacket
Physical Description:1 online resource (xx, 234 pages) : illustrations
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-223) and index.
ISBN:9780511415227
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9781107188112
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9781281751218
9786611751210
6611751211
0511414544
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