Inequality and punishment: the idiosyncrasies of the political economy of punishment

Prisons across the globe are manifestations of inequality. In any society, its most marginalised groups are overrepresented in prisons and all institutions of criminal justice. Notwithstanding this universal condition of contemporary criminal justice, the link between social inequality and inequalit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Karstedt, Susanne (Author)
Format: Electronic/Print Article
Language:English
Published: 2020
In: Tracing the relationship between inequality, crime, and punishment
Year: 2020, Pages: 22-40
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Global regions
Imprisonment rates
Middle classes
OECD countries
Penal Populism
Political Economy
Political Power
Prison conditions
Socio-economic inequality
human rights violations
Description
Summary:Prisons across the globe are manifestations of inequality. In any society, its most marginalised groups are overrepresented in prisons and all institutions of criminal justice. Notwithstanding this universal condition of contemporary criminal justice, the link between social inequality and inequality of punishment has been found to be tenuous and elusive. This contribution addresses the question how socio-economic inequality shapes the manifestations of punishment for a global sample of countries. As socio-economic inequality and criminal punishment are both multi-faceted concepts, several indicators are used for each. The findings confirm the highly contextual nature of the link between inequality and criminal punishment; they suggest a variegated impact of political economies, and a multiplicity of mechanisms that link inequality and criminal punishment across the globe.
ISBN:9780197266922
DOI:10.5871/bacad/9780197266922.003.0002