John Pratt David Brown Mark Brown Simon Hallsworth Wayne Morrison (eds) Devon, Willian Publishing, 2005, pp. xxvi + 319, ISBN 1 84392 109 X, £19.50 The aim of The New Punitiveness is to bring up-to-date information on the ever-increasing numbers of people being sent to prison, across the majority of the Western world. In doing this, it has brought together an impressive number of leading authorities within this area to provide a significant debate on the development of new penal trends, across the various societies, justifying this in relation to a wide range of theoretical debates. The writing, layout and format of the book give it a clear and accessible style, making what could have been a difficult read more accessible. Setting the standard is an excellent introduction, which, overall, sets the scene for the remainder of the text. The book outlines some of the basic yet important challenges and dilemmas in the new punitiveness today. The book consists of seventeen chapters, which have been divided into four main sections: Punitive trends; Globalisation, technology and surveillance; Non-punitive societies; and Explanations. Individual chapters cover a variety of topical areas, including imprisonment in the USA from Nixon to Clinton, electronic monitoring, satellite tracking and the new punitiveness in England and Wales. Some of the issues addressed are when a society is non-punitive; the Italian scenario; and liberal exclusions and the new punitiveness. Altogether, this is an extremely thorough and interesting read.
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Sarah Dubberley (2005) studied this question.