NCJ Number
210222
Date Published
2005
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the changes in penality and penal practice in Canada and the accuracy of the punitive turn thesis in relation to the actual practices and policies of punishment in Canada.
Abstract
Understanding and exploring the terrain of punishment in Canada is seen as important for reasons, such as Canada’s incarceration rates being closer to those of other Western nations, not those of the United States and the practices and rationales of punishment in Canada are exported through the Western world. This paper in explores the punitive turn thesis in relation to punishment in Canada, offering two central observations: (1) the notion of a punitive turn fails to capture the complexity and diversity of Canadian penality and (2) the definition of punitiveness as it exists within the penal-turn literature is too narrow. The paper outlines some of the recent developments in Federal and Provincial (Ontario) regime and shows how these changes in penality mark wider shifts in punishment that are not explained by the punitive turn thesis. Overall, punishment in Canada operates under different practices and policies than those suggested through the punitive turn thesis. Correctional programming in Canada shows a step towards a liberalized notion of punishment where individual offenders are themselves responsibilized and given the choice to participate in their own change processes. The liberalism of Canadian punishment is a veil underneath which remains an extremely punitive system. Notes, references