P073 - Penal Populism: A Perspective on Social Shifts and Psychosocial Demands

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Abstract

This paper examines the concept of penal populism. It refers to the social trend where there is radical support for harsher punishments for criminals, prioritising community and victim welfare over defendants’ rights. This phenomenon has been observed in various countries since the last century and has become an increasingly pressing global issue.
The rise in crime rates during the 1980s led to heightened public anxiety and a demand for more stringent penal policies. This period saw a doubling of imprisonment rates, placing immense strain on prison systems. In parallel, populism began influencing legislative processes, as evidenced by laws like the ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy in the US and the UK’s 1991 Aggravated Vehicle Taking Act and punitive measures in the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. Similarly, public discourse in China often demonstrates a strong preference for the death penalty and a highly retributive attitude towards offenders. A notable example is the 2019 amendment to China’s Criminal Law, passed by the People’s Congress to allow prosecuting offenders under 14 years in specific cases, following public outrage over a murder committed by a 13-year-old. Entrenched and radical views on criminal justice not only impede further reform in the criminal justice system but exert significant pressure on lawyers defending offenders.
Drawn in the light of the implications of this social phenomenon, this paper will delve into the conceptualisation of penal populism from a socio-legal and comparative viewpoint, understanding the emergence of penal populism from our late modernity society and neoliberal trend while contrasting the Anglo-American context with China’s socialist framework. It will additionally address the psychosocial demands around penal populism to answer how populist sentiments coalesce around penal policies and transform into penal populism, and what role symbolic elements of criminal law, crime, and sentencing policies play in this intersection.

Author

• Jianxuan Hu, PhD Candidate at Durham University Law School