Routledge Penal Culture and Hyperincarceration: The Revival of the Prison (New Advances in Crime and Social Harm)

What are the various forces influencing the role of the prison in late modern societies? What changes have there been in penality and use of the prison over the past 40 years that have led to the re-valorization of the prison? Using penal culture as a conceptual and theoretical vehicle, and Australia as a case study, this book analyses international developments in penality and imprisonment. Authored by some of Australia’s leading penal theorists, the book examines the historical and contemporary influences on the use of the prison, with analyses of colonialism, post colonialism, race, and what they term the ’penal/colonial complex,’ in the construction of imprisonment rates and on the development of the phenomenon of hyperincarceration. The authors develop penal culture as an explanatory framework for continuity, change and difference in prisons and the nature of contested penal expansionism. The influence of transformative concepts such as ’risk management’, ’the therapeutic prison’, and ’preventative detention’ are explored as aspects of penal culture. Processes of normalization, transmission and reproduction of penal culture are seen throughout the social realm. Comparative, contemporary and historical in its approach, the book provides a new analysis of penality in the 21st century. Review ’... I admire, and would recommend, the book as a model of academic writing, exegesis, explanation and argument. The authors are clearly very much at home with the vast array of empirical materials and theoretical perspectives which they describe, explain and employ with ease and elegance of expression...It is that clever and seamless combination of structure and strategy which unifies the six authors’ contributions into one consistent and coherent authorial voice. And, also arguably, it is that authoritative but multiply-nuanced voice that endows the book with its discursive power.’ British Journal of Criminology ’The cutting edge theorizations and focus on colonialism and racism by Australia’s leading penal theorists make this book an outstanding and original exercise in comparative and historical criminology.’ Pat Carlen, University of Kent, UK ’This is a compelling account of contemporary penal development in Australia and its underlying causes. In what is a rarity, the analysis is based on research in each state. It will be of great interest both in Australia and beyond.’ John Pratt, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand ’The revalorization of imprisonment is a development that has shocked and dismayed experts around the world. This remarkable book examines the prison’s changing meanings, traces its shifting place in contemporary culture, and offers penetrating insights into the social and political processes that explain the surprising resurgence of this 19th century institution in the 21st century.’ David Garland, New York University, USA and author of The Culture of Control and Peculiar Institution About the Author Professor Chris Cunneen is a conjoint professor of criminology in the Faculty of Law of the University of New South Wales. He held the NewSouth Global Chair in Criminology at UNSW from 2006 to 2010. Until 2005, Professor Cunneen was the Director for the Institute of Criminology at the University of Sydney, a position held since 1995. He has been teaching Criminology at the University of Sydney Law School since 1990. Previously he held research positions with the Indigenous Law Centre at UNSW and the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. Professor Cunneen is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology (since 2010), Australian Indigenous Law Reporter (since 1997), Current Issues in Criminal Justice (since 1991) and Youth Justice (since 2005). He is also a Series Editor of the Institute of Criminology Monograph Series. He was the Chairperson of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Council which advised the Minister on juvenile justice ma