NCJ Number
107708
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 29 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1987) Pages: 355-387
Date Published
1987
Length
33 pages
Annotation
The contemporary debate over privatization in the United States and Canada raises fundamental questions about the penal system: the locus of power to punish, the nature of the penal reform process, and the role of state and civil society and the political economy in both punishment and reform.
Abstract
Privatization summarizes the evolution of the penal system toward the dispersal of social control involving a complex web of state and private interests, organizations, and social forces. The range of private-sector correctional activities is largely at the soft end of the penal system and preserves the control functions of the state, while mobilizing the private sector in informal justice and community control activities. Through privatization, the state is able to reduce welfare expenditures and the civil service workforce, increase social control, and retain the use of the penal system as a mechanism for reproducing its legitimacy. 78 references.