Abstract
The phenomenon of penal populism was first identified as a characteristic of English-speaking Western democracies around the end of the twentieth century—specifically, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia and Canada (see Roberts et al., 2003; Pratt, 2007). Since that time, however, various strands of it—the exact form that it takes and the impact it has varies from society to society—have been identified in a diverse range of countries. Generally, it demands a much more punitive approach to law breaking. This has been manifested in the form of dramatically rising imprisonment rates, as in the Anglophone world; but it has also led to clamourings for a more vigorous use of the death penalty in some Asian societies, particularly Japan (Johnson, 2006), or chemical castration of child sex offenders, as in South Korea (Koo et al., 2014) and the Czech Republic (Haney, 2016).
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Notes
- 1.
Robinson v California 370 US 660 (1962).
- 2.
422 US 563.
- 3.
408 US 238, 296–297.
- 4.
The World Prison Brief has been used as the source for all prison statistics. Here, the US rate represents a decline from its high of 755 in 2008.
- 5.
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, 7.3; 2014, 4.4; UK, 1980, 7.4, 2012, 4.4; USA, 1985, 10.1; 2012, 6.8. Ratio of marriages to divorce over the same period is as follows: Australia, 1980, 2.75:1; 2013, 2.3:1; Canada, 1980, 3:1; 2008, 2:1; New Zealand, 1980, 3:1; 2014, 2.5:1; UK, 1980, 2.7:1; 2012, 2:3:1; USA, 1980, 2:1; 2012, 2.2:1. Couples in de facto relationships in Australia increased from 5% in 1982 to 15% in 2006; in Canada, 6% in 1981 to 16.7% in 2011; in the UK, from 8.9%in 1996 to 16.4% in 2014. One-parent families increased in Australia from 8.6% in 1981 to 15% in 2011; in Canada, from 11.3% in 1981 to 16.3% in 2011; in New Zealand from 12% in 1981 to 17.8% in 2013in the UK, 13.9% in 1981 to 25% in 2014; in the USA, from 19.5% in 1980 to 29.5% in 2008. 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 in 1981 to 2.4 in 2012; in the USA, from 19.5 in 1980 to 29.5 in 2008.
- 6.
See note 4 regarding the decline in the US imprisonment rate. See also Goode (2013).
- 7.
Quoted in Daily Mail, 27 December 2016.
- 8.
Quoted in The Financial Times, 3 June 2016.
- 9.
Quoted by New York Times, 12 August 2016.
- 10.
William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part I, Act 5, sc 4, p. 7.
- 11.
The percentage of people living alone has increased from 18.8% of the Australian population in 1986 to 23% in 2013; from 11.4% in Canada in 1981 to 27.6% in 2011; from 16% in New Zealand in 1980 to 23.5% in 2013; from 22% in the UK in 1981 to 28% in 2014; from 22.7% in the US in 1980 to 27.4% in 2012.
- 12.
Cf Bauman (2001, p. 62) “Individuals who are untied to place, who can travel light and move fast, win all the competitions that matter and count”.
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Pratt, J., Miao, M. (2022). Penal Populism: The End of Reason. In: Johansen, B.E., Akande, A. (eds) Get Your Knee Off Our Necks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85155-2_3
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