Indefinite preventive detention across penal cultures

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

There is growing awareness that post-conviction indefinite preventive detention functions as a type of informal life sentence. Although not explicitly labelled ‘life imprisonment’, such sentences can result in lifelong detention until death. While formal life sentences have garnered significant global attention in recent years, post-conviction indefinite preventive detention across different jurisdictions remains poorly understood. This panel provides a global overview on the implementation and impact of indefinite preventive detention sentences across different jurisdictions as well as an in-depth look at the forms, prevalence, and practices of indefinite preventive detention in Norway, Germany, and England and Wales. We aim to shed light on the characteristics of those serving such sentences and the significant impact of informal life sentences on individuals’ lives.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Imprisonment, Prisons, Prison Life and Effects of Imprisonment (Prisons WG)

Chair

• Berit Johnsen, Kriminalomsorgens høgskole og utdanningssenter KRUS

Individual Presentations

• Preventive detention in the German penal culture – penally moderated exclusion? - Kirstin Drenkhahn, Freie Universität Berlin

• Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences in England and Wales: processes of delegitimization and legislative abolition - Harry Annison, University of Southampton

• Preventive detention in Norway: a register-based population analysis - Berit Johnsen, Kriminalomsorgens høgskole og utdanningssenter KRUS; John Todd-Kvam, Norwegian University of Science and Technology