RT Article
T1 Whither neoliberal penality? The past, present and future of imprisonment in the US
JF Punishment & society
VO 21
IS 2
SP 187
OP 206
A1 Xenakis, Sappho
A1 Cheliotis, Leonidas 1977-
A2 Cheliotis, Leonidas 1977-
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1743492340
AB Debates about the trajectory of prison rates in the US, on one hand, and about the prospects of the neoliberal international order, on the other hand, suggest the time is ripe for a reappraisal of penological scholarship on the relationship between neoliberalism and imprisonment. With the aim of responding to this challenge, this article considers the relevance of the so-called ‘neoliberal penality thesis’ as a framework through which to interpret recent and ongoing developments in US imprisonment. We first set out the core propositions of the thesis and engage with a range of critiques it has attracted regarding the role of crime and government institutions, the evolution and functions of state regulation and welfare provision, and reliance on imprisonment as an indicator of state punitiveness. We then outline the principal arguments that have arisen about the direction of contemporary prison trends in the US, including since Donald Trump was elected to the presidency and took office, and proceed to distil their commonly opaque treatment of the intersections between neoliberalism and imprisonment, also clarifying their respective implications for the neoliberal penality thesis in light of the main critiques levelled previously against it. In so doing, we go beyond the penological field to take into account concerns about the vitality of neoliberalism itself. We conclude that international politico-economic developments have cast considerable doubt over the pertinence of neoliberalism as an organising concept for analysis of emergent penal currents.
K1 Trump
K1 Decarceration
K1 Deglobalisation
K1 Imprisonment
K1 Neoliberal penality
K1 Neoliberalism
K1 Political economy of punishment
DO 10.1177/1462474517751911