Penal Exceptionalism?

'Are Nordic countries a penal paradise, characterized by low confinement rates and humane prisons, or the vectors of more subtle and penetrating forms of punishment than meet the eye? Will they jump on the punitive bandwagon or offer a viable pathway to penal moderation for other nations to take? This collection brings together insider and outsider perspectives from diverse disciplines to tackle these issues. The result is a lively contribution to comparative criminology that will help displace the United States from its meridian position in international debates on the penal state.' – Loïc Wacquant, author of Prisons of Poverty and Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity

'This excellent and deeply thought provoking collection of essays (responding to John Pratt’s work on Scandinavian penal exceptionalism) is both critically important and importantly critical. It is critically important because so many penal scholars and reformers are looking to the Nordic countries in order to find clues about how to foster and develop more moderate and progressive penal policies and practices. Given the academic and political significance of these inter-related projects, it is all the more vital that this collection subjects claims of Nordic exceptionalism and Nordic penal moderation to such searching, balanced and nuanced critical scrutiny. The result is an intriguing and challenging book that challenges and enriches analyses of Nordic penality, and which, if it is read as widely as it deserves to be, will also challenge and enrich the project of comparative penology itself.'– Fergus McNeill, Professor of Criminology and Social Work, University of Glasgow