Penal Systems: A Comparative Approach

′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 ′A major and seminal work′ - David Downes, Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics Penal Systems: A Comparative Approach is a comprehensive and original introduction to the comparative study of punishment. Analysing twelve countries, Cavadino and 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.

Table of Contents:
Foreword - David Downes 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?′

About the Author :
Michael Cavadino, who is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Central Lancashire, is an internationally known author and researcher in the fields of penology (the study of punishment) and mental health law. He is co-author of the leading textbook on the penal system of England and Wales (M Cavadino, J Dignan and G Mair, The Penal System: An Introduction, 5th ed., Sage Publications 2013). His other works include Mental Health Law in Context: Doctors′ Orders? (Dartmouth, 1989) and M Cavadino and J Dignan, Penal Systems: A Comparative Approach (Sage Publications, 2006).

Review :
′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