NCJ Number
139335
Editor(s)
J Muncie,
R Sparks
Date Published
1991
Length
277 pages
Annotation
Fourteen papers on the development of penal policy and practice in the emergent European order address the history of penal ideologies and prison systems in Europe, compare current practices, and examine the consequences of the growth of European institutions for the legal status and rights of people in prison.
Abstract
Four papers review the origins of European penal systems. One paper provides an account of the conditions of prisons in England, Germany, Holland, Austrian Flanders, and France in the late 18th century; and a second paper traces and assesses the nature and effects of the 16th-century houses of corrections. A third paper provides a competing interpretation of the origins of houses of correction. It calls into question both the humanitarianism of penal reform and the legitimation of the State's power to punish. The fourth paper reviews the establishment of modern prison practice in continental Europe. Six papers focus on contemporary penal policies and practices in Europe. Three papers consider the expansion and contraction in European penal systems, the origins and consequences of Dutch penal policy since 1945, and lessons from the West German experience in reducing the prison population. Remaining papers in this section examine prison grievance and inspection procedures in England, Wales, France, Germany, and the Netherlands; the future of imprisonment in Scotland; and the argument against building more prisons. Four papers in the final section consider the possibilities for the future convergence of policy and practice for prisons under the auspices of the 1987 European Prison Rules as well as the influence of the European Convention on Human Rights, especially through its judicial arm, the Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg. Chapter notes and a subject index