Three decades on: Reflections on the current state of punishment and society studies (in Europe)

• In Event: Punishment & Society. Theoretical advances and problems

Abstract

Back in the 2010s, various leading scholars launched a conversation on the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of punishment and society studies, a thriving academic subfield that had emerged in the last decade of the twentieth century. The special issue commemorating the 20th anniversary of the journal Punishment & Society was one of key instances in which this debate garnered particular traction. This paper revisits this discussion almost one decade later, reflecting on if, how and to what extent the conclusions of that debate on the shortcomings of this subfield of study should be nuanced. Specifically, the paper scrutinises why punishment and society studies have long struggled to take hold across (continental) Europe. This specific query is addressed by considering the little impact of this subfield within both the European Society of Criminology and similar academic associations in Europe. In this respect, the paper examines how the development of criminology studies in the last decades has left little room for punishment and society explorations to blossom in various European countries and regions. Drawing on this reflection, the paper concludes with some considerations on the challenges to be faced by punishment and society scholars in the old continent in the years to come.

Author

• Jose A. Brandariz, University of A Coruna