European Penology and Policy Transfer

• In Event: International and Comparative Issues in Criminal Justice

Abstract

In this paper we will explore how the academic literature and research on policy transfer and lesson drawing can be made useful to describe and understand policy developments in the area of prisoners’ rights within a European context. The traditional somewhat narrow state-centric focus of the policy transfer framework nowadays also encompasses other actors and venues, including international and supranational organisations (such as the Council of Europe and the European Union) as well as pressure groups and transnational advocacy groups. As a result, policy transfer research has increasingly become assimilated into wider debates on globalization and Europeanisation. How do key European institutions (such as the European Court of Human Rights, the European anti-torture committee or the European Court of Justice) formulate and diffuse norms and ideas with respect to the treatment of prisoners within a European context? And, in particular, what are the achievements and constraints on the transfer of such norms and ideas?

Author

• Tom Daems, Leuven Institute of Criminology (LINC), KU Leuven