NCJ Number
228768
Journal
European Journal of Criminology Volume: 6 Issue: 6 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 517-536
Date Published
November 2009
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This article examines the implications of cultural values, political-cultural arrangements, and the changing mediascape and how they influence the ways in which the public make sense of crime and punishment issues.
Abstract
The first section of this article explores the meaning of punitiveness, and makes distinctions between public attitudes, political rhetoric, public policy, and penal practice. Then, punitiveness is considered through the jurisdiction-specific cultural values and ideational resources on which citizens and policymakers draw when explaining and responding to crime problems. The third section examines the ways in which political-cultural styles constrain the availability of these ideational resources and influence which resources are most likely to resonate. The fourth section builds on these observations and presents the case against what has been called stealth penal reform, the process whereby symbolic, tough-on-crime rhetoric is utilized to distract the public from the quiet pursuit of more progressive aims. Finally, sets of research questions are provided in light of ongoing changes in the new mediascape, with suggestions to enrich the discourse around crime and punishment. References