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GLOBAL CRIMINOLOGY – BERIT
JOHNSEN
LES 1: GLOBAL PRISON TRENDS – KEY FACTS, NUMBERS AND FIGURES
Global Prison Trends 2024 discusses:
Criminalization of poverty and status
Systemic racism and discrimination
Punitive populism
Overcrowding is worsening: 2/3 prisons that operate above their capacity
Prison staff shortages: more than 10% of staff suffers from PTSD
Organized crime in prison
Talks about the status quo, what is it like? In 2024 there are 11,5 million people live in prison. That’s
basically the whole population of Belgium! The prisoners are mostly men.
How do you define imprisonment? That’s the question
POPULATION RATES
Europe:
Northern Europe: Latvia (172) = highest
Southern Europe: Gibraltar – UK (273) = highest
Western Europe: France (111) = highest
Central & Eastern Europe: Belarus (345) = highest
Europe/Asia: Turkey (366) this part of Europe has overall the highest population!
San Marino (9), Liechtenstein (15), Denmark – Faroes Islands (23), Iceland (36) = lowest
Belgium (104) = Western-Europe is lower than Eastern-Europe!
Nordic countries overall have a low rate, but Sweden (82) is going up!
o Sweden has estimated that they will need 35.000 prison beds, this means that they will
have 333 prisoners per 100.000 inhabitants, this is really high!
o This is due to gang crimes. Sweden has a long history of immigration; they have a long
history of neutrality. The immigrants are not integrated very well. Crime is culture based!
o Penal populism – conservative minority government with support from
‘Sverigedemokraterna’ – nationalistic and right wing popularistic crime becomes a
topic on the political agenda! Denmark has shut the borders, but the Swedish gangs are
still moving around. In Norway there are members of the gang as well, they have fear
that the number of prison population will increase.
In Norway there is a policy of openness, the prison is open for researchers.
o The Correctional Service, an open policy concerning visits and research (while Sweden is
quite closed)
o Most empirical studies on Scandinavian/Nordic Exceptionalism are carried out in Norway
o We will discuss this later on in class
Africa: Western part is low, East and South is
high
Gambia (22) = lowest
Rwanda (637) = highest due to the America:
genocide!
El Salvador (1026) = highest
Canada (90) = lowest
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Asia: Oceania:
Japan (33) = lowest American Samoa (538) = highest
Turkmenistan (576) = highest Papua new Guana (57) = lowest
LES 2: COMPARATIVE PENOLOGY
JOHN PRATT
Scandinavian exceptionalism vs. Nordic exceptionalism
o Scandinavian exceptionalism = Norway, Sweden, Denmark
o Nordic exceptionalism = Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Faroe Islands
Penal exceptionalism = high or low rates in imprisonment
o Penal excess = high rates in imprisonment
United Kingdom has been rising since 1990, Australia has been rising as well
Nordic countries have a stable development along the years. Finland has a decrease from 1950
until 1990, from then it flats out and becomes stable.
What is John Pratt’s lens/point of departure in his comparative study – how is he a representative from
the ‘grand narrative’ Brangan refers to?
Scandinavian countries are more humane in comparison with Anglo-American countries. Anglo-
American countries focus more on the punishment.
Brangan is criticizing criminology; Pratt is a white man that has traditionally done criminal
research
The language that has the most impact is English, English-speakers have more access to the
journals that are published. ‘Your article is interesting, but not interesting for international
public’
Problems that are experienced in countries define the countries itself!
Pratt has a network in Scandinavia so that’s why he is investigating the countries (for example:
why doesn’t he make the comparison with Japan?)
What do Brangan mean with ‘Anglocentrism’, that ‘comparative penology is deeply embedded in
Anglocentrism’? How is John Pratt’s study a representative for this?
Anglocentrism refers to the practice of viewing the world primarily through the lens of English or
Anglo-American culture, language, and values. This is the bedrock of comparative penology.
Comparative penology = making the comparison with other kinds of penology (other than the
Anglocentrism one, like for example the Scandinavian point of view)
Pratt makes the comparison between the American view and the Scandinavian view
Anglocentrism is exceptional as well, they have many people in prison! Why do they look at the
Nordic countries when they have an exceptionalism on their own?
What is problematic with this (grand narrative, Anglocentrism)?
Being biased, thinking your own penology is the best who is defining what ‘truth’ is?
‘What can they learn from the Nordic countries that they can import in their own country?’
they don’t do research in Nordic countries to help the Nordic countries, but to make their own
system better!
Always the same issues are addressed in comparative research, a lot of criminologists have
done this from the Anglo-American perspective, they are not interested in the problems of the
Nordic countries
What is ‘southern criminology’?
A critical perspective drawing on a southern theory encourages us to look at the social, political
and geographical context of knowledge production
