Punishment and political membership: bridges between penological worlds.

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

Abstract

This paper discusses the relationship between punishment and political membership. Building on insights drawn from the Italian case study, it argues that the distribution of punishment reflects the construction of political membership across polities, with punitiveness and moderation distributed across an insider/outsider divide. This dynamic is especially apparent in Italy and can explain its dual and differential penality. The paper argues that, beyond the Italian case study, ‘the construction of political membership’ allows us to synthesise different penological theories when explaining contemporary punishment. This is so even in the presence of ‘hybrid’ contexts that do not possess the systemic coherence presumed in – primarily Anglocentric – penal theories. As such it also offers a bridge between ‘central’ and ‘peripheral’ penal contexts, allowing both to talk and learn from each other.

Author

• Zelia Gallo, King’s College London