The penal implications of austerity: Italian punishment in the wake of the Eurozone crisis

In what might be called the ‘austerity-driven hypothesis’, a consistent strand of literature has sought to explain the prison downsizing witnessed in many jurisdictions of the global north over the past decade by referring to the financial crisis of the late 2000s to early 2010s and its effects in terms of public spending cuts. Since this economic phase is essentially over, whereas the (moderate) decarceration turn is still ongoing, there are good reasons to challenge this hypothesis. This article delves into the non-economic forces that are fostering a prison population decline that, 10 years on, is becoming the new ‘penal normal’. The article thereby aims to spark a dialogue not only with the scholarship exploring the prison downsizing but also with certain theoretical frameworks that have played a key role in examining the punitive turn era. Additionally, the article contributes to the conversation on the need to reframe materialist readings on penality in a ‘non-reductionist’ fashion. By revisiting heterodox theses and scrutinizing the impact of recent penal changes on traditional materialist accounts, the article joins the collective endeavour seeking to update political economic perspectives on punishment and the penal field.

Section: What Has Migration Enforcement Got To Do With It?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the austerity-driven hypothesis: Political economic theses on penality and the recent prison population decline

Brandariz

2021

“…Second, although the process reconstructed here owes much to the constraints brought about by austerity, we cannot assume that other countries will have responded to the financial crisis and its aftermath in a similar way. In fact, the opposite is true, and other countries did follow radically different paths, with an exacerbation of punitiveness in Italy (Gallo, 2019) and 'xenophobic law and order rhetoric' used as a deflective strategy in Greece (Xenakis and Cheliotis, 2018: 209). More research is needed here if we want to come to a fuller understanding of the implications of austerity for crime prevention, and their durability, across Europe.…”

Section: Implications For European Criminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing through vulnerability in austerity England

Menichelli

2019

Drawing on interviews with practitioners, the article reconstructs how and why vulnerability has become an organizing principle in community safety work in England and Wales. Decreasing crime rates, growing awareness of risk and harm, loss of political salience of volume crime and modifications to the structure of incentives all contributed to making the move away from crime and disorder possible. The article shows how vulnerability is now used to facilitate partnership working to maintain existing levels of service provision, but also to ration the amount of support made available to citizens at a time of austerity. This is potentially problematic and open questions remain on the solidity, orientation and reach of this shift. The article concludes by discussing the research findings in light of their broader implications for European criminology and comparative research.

“…This resulted in the expansion of the realm of the penal, the growth of the incarceration rate and the emergence of a new punitive doxa, similar to what was observed in other Western countries (Fassin, 2017;Garland, 2001;Pratt, 2007;Pratt et al, 2005;Selmini, 2011;Simon, 2007;Wacquant, 2009). These trends have nevertheless coexisted in Italy with structural and contingent factors (Corda, 2016) and periodic instances of 'pragmatic moderation' (Gallo, 2018) that partly contained them. Thus, the study of the debates on clemency for the politically motivated crimes of the 1970s constitutes a viewpoint on how punitive trends are translated and complexified locally, in specific circumstances and in resonance with cultural and historical traditions (Melossi, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The failed amnesty of the ‘years of lead’ in Italy: Continuity and transformations between (de)politicization and punitiveness

Rossi

2021

The ‘years of lead’ commonly refer in Italy to the decade of the 1970s, characterized by widespread conflictuality, the use of violence for political aims and harsh state repression of political activism. Political violence has been primarily handled with both normal and exceptional means of criminal justice, yet debates on amnesty and reconciliation have been recurrent over the years. This article traces the history of the debates on amnesty and pardon for politically motivated offences to show how they have been shaped by changing national and international contexts. On the one hand, the ‘failed amnesty’ reflects the long-lasting repressive approach adopted by the Italian state to address the question of the political violence in the 1970s and the reluctance to acknowledge its collective and political character. On the other hand, this article argues that, beyond the apparent continuity of a punitive approach, the gradual disappearance of amnesty from political debates in the 1990s–2000s is symptomatic of a more paradigmatic shift resulting from the combination of different factors and trends, such as the transformation of the Italian political landscape in the early 1990s, the emergence and affirmation of a new punitive discourse, as well as the increasing delegitimation of amnesties in transitional settings. Thus, through a specific case-study, this article draws links between criminal justice and penal trends, political transformations and developments in transitional justice, and consequently intends to contribute to the discussion of the concept of punitiveness and the effects of the expanding international criminal law on the treatment of politically motivated offences.