CRIM324 WEEK 12 NOTES
CONTEMPORARY STRATEGY OF PRIVATISATION
Loss of faith in state/government to deal with the problem of crime
Loss of faith is reflected in the strategies being introduced to deal with these
problems
Privatisation introduced as strategy with cost benefits and able to reduce
overcrowding
After 20 years, cost-benefits minimal and overcrowding still a problem
Privatization remains preferred option for coping with contemporary problems in the
criminal justice system.
THE PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
The prison-industrial complex (PIC) is used to describe the overlapping interests of
government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as
solutions to economic, social and political problems.
Imprisonment has become the response of first resort for far too many of the social
problems that burden the poorest in society.
But prisons do not make problems disappear, they make human beings disappear...
And this has become big business.
PRISONS DON’T WORK
Our prison population is rapidly increasing
Harsher sentencing is driving rises in our prison population
Rapid prison growth is set to accelerate over the next decade
Prisons are costly
Prisoners are typically from highly disadvantaged backgrounds: The people we are
locking up in prison have typically experienced high levels of disadvantage in their
lives: imprisonment exacerbates these problems.
Harsher prison sentences don’t deter crime and can increase reoffending.
Prison often fails to stop reoffending 59% of Australian prisoners have been in prison
before.
PENAL REDUCTIONISM
Theoretical position that is characterized by:
Support for the state’s power to punish and commitment to liberal political ideology
Prison is normalised and has central place in the criminal justice system
Are not concerned with the question of the social construction of criminal behaviour
Advocate for reform of prison – use only as last resort for the most serious of crimes.
Reductionists include:
Andrew Rutherford – Prisons and the Process of Justice 1984
Roger Matthews – Doing Time 1999
CONTEMPORARY STRATEGY OF PRIVATISATION
Loss of faith in state/government to deal with the problem of crime
Loss of faith is reflected in the strategies being introduced to deal with these
problems
Privatisation introduced as strategy with cost benefits and able to reduce
overcrowding
After 20 years, cost-benefits minimal and overcrowding still a problem
Privatization remains preferred option for coping with contemporary problems in the
criminal justice system.
THE PRISON-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
The prison-industrial complex (PIC) is used to describe the overlapping interests of
government and industry that use surveillance, policing, and imprisonment as
solutions to economic, social and political problems.
Imprisonment has become the response of first resort for far too many of the social
problems that burden the poorest in society.
But prisons do not make problems disappear, they make human beings disappear...
And this has become big business.
PRISONS DON’T WORK
Our prison population is rapidly increasing
Harsher sentencing is driving rises in our prison population
Rapid prison growth is set to accelerate over the next decade
Prisons are costly
Prisoners are typically from highly disadvantaged backgrounds: The people we are
locking up in prison have typically experienced high levels of disadvantage in their
lives: imprisonment exacerbates these problems.
Harsher prison sentences don’t deter crime and can increase reoffending.
Prison often fails to stop reoffending 59% of Australian prisoners have been in prison
before.
PENAL REDUCTIONISM
Theoretical position that is characterized by:
Support for the state’s power to punish and commitment to liberal political ideology
Prison is normalised and has central place in the criminal justice system
Are not concerned with the question of the social construction of criminal behaviour
Advocate for reform of prison – use only as last resort for the most serious of crimes.
Reductionists include:
Andrew Rutherford – Prisons and the Process of Justice 1984
Roger Matthews – Doing Time 1999
