Abstract
Penal populism has become a well-known form of governance in criminal control policy. This chapter, however, argues that the emergence of penal populism is neither the endpoint nor the limits to populism and its consequences in modern society. Rather, it marks only the beginnings of its more general resurgence in the early twenty-first century. In these respects, penal populism should be understood as only a convenient incubating phase in which populist forces found vigor and strength before flowing much deeper into mainstream society from that gestation. Penal populism represents an attack on the long-established link between reason and modern punishment, this has been only the prelude to how a much more free flowing political populism now threatens to bring an end to Reason itself, the foundation stone of modernity. This shift from penal to political populism resulted from the interconnecting impact of the 2008 global financial (fiscal) crisis and the world’s mass movement of peoples.
This chapter is a revised, edited, and updated version of an article that was published as “The end of penal populism; The rise of populist politics” by John Pratt and Michelle Miao in Archiwum Kryminologii (Archives of Criminology) 2019, XLI(2), 15–40.
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Notes
- 1.
Covid rates of infection and deaths per head of population have been amongst the highest in those countries where populism has had the biggest political successes—the UK, US, Brazil, and India.
- 2.
Marriage rates (i.e., number of marriages occurring among the population of a given geographical area during a given year, per 1000 mid-year total population) are as follows: Australia, 1980: 7.4, 2013, 5.1; Canada, 1981, 7.7; 2008, 4.4; New Zealand, 1980, Meanwhile average household size declined across all these societies: in Australia, from 2.8 in 1986 to 2.6 in 2006; in Canada, from 3.3 in 1981 to 2.9 in 2011; in New Zealand from 3.0 in 1981 to 2.7 in 2013; in the UK, from 2.7 in 1981 to 2.4 in 2012; in the USA, from 19.5 in 1980 to 29.5 in 2008. In Australia, lone person households increased from 19% of households in 1986 to 24% in 2016; in Canada from 11% in 1981 to 28% in 2016; in New Zealand from 16% in 1981 to 24% in 2018; in the UK, from 22% in 1981 to 28% in 2017; in the USA, from\23%\ in 1980 to 28% in 2017 (Pratt & Miao, 2019, p. 403).
- 3.
In Australia, personal bankruptcies increased from 7534 in financial year 1986/87 to 17,163 in 2014/15. In Canada, from 21,025 in 1980 to 92,694 in 2010. In England and Wales from 3986 in 1980 to 58,801 in 2010. In New Zealand, from 608 in 1980 to 6426 in 2009/10. In the USA, from 241,431 in 1980 to 1,536,799 in 2010 (Pratt & Miao, 2019, p. 401).
- 4.
This is a reference to the response of Donald Trump to a “caravan” of about 1000 migrants, including 300 women and 400 children, mostly from Central America which was heading through Mexico to seek asylum in the US (Boot, 2018).
- 5.
- 6.
For example, there is strong support for mandatory vaccinations against Covid-19 in Australia (77%) and the UK (70%). In the UK, the public have supported more extensive lockdowns than the government had been prepared to impose. During the first lockdown period in that country in April 2020, “We found that 87% believed the lockdown should continue for at least another three weeks (with 6% unsure and 7% disagreeing) … when asked their opinion on whether the UK’s plans over the next few weeks were ‘not firm enough with restrictions on people’ or were ‘putting too many restrictions on people’ … 56% felt they were not firm enough” (Recchia, 2020).
- 7.
In opinion polls in other European countries there have also been declines in support for populist parties—France, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic (see https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/)
- 8.
In the US, the rate of imprisonment declined from 755 per 100,000 of population in 2008 to 639 in 2018; in Canada, 117 to 104; UK, 150 to 130 in 2021; Australia 172 in 2018 to 160 in 2021; New Zealand 214 in 2018 to 188 in 2021 (see https://www.prisonstudies.org/world-prison-brief-data)
- 9.
In New Zealand, a Horizon public opinion poll found 54% of respondents chose health as the most important issue in the 2020 election. This was followed by “Pandemic Economy Recovery” (51%) and “Pandemic Management” (48%). Comparatively, “Law and Order” (30%) and “Crime” (29%) were ranked 19 and 20, respectively (Horizon Poll, 2020).
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Pratt, J., Miao, M. (2023). The End? Punishment, Populism, and the Threat to Democratic Order. In: Akande, A. (eds) Globalization, Human Rights and Populism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17203-8_9
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