This book investigates the penal cultures in France and Germany - how it is shaped in politics, media, and public opinion.

Kirstin Drenkhahn is a lawyer by training and a Full Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology in the Department of Law at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

Fabien Jobard holds a PhD in Political Science and is a Senior Researcher at CNRS, France.

Tobias Singelnstein is a Full Professor of Criminology and Criminal Law in the Department of Law at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Part One: Points of Departure 1.Testing the Continental Restraint Hypothesis in France and Germany Kirstin Drenkhahn, Fabien Jobard, Johanna Nickels and Tobias Singelnstein 2.A Testament to Penal Moderation? Key Aspects of the Criminal Sanctions Law and Procedure Law in France and Germany Kirstin Drenkhahn, Anna Maria Makowka and Johanna Nickels 3.Criminal Justice in Numbers Kirstin Drenkhahn, Fabien Jobard and Shaïn Morisse Part Two: Punishment in Society in France and Germany 4.How we did it - Methods Fabien Jobard, Nicolas Hubé, Bénédicte Laumond, Shaïn Morisse, Johanna Nickels and Claire Ruffio 5.Punishment and the Population 5.1.What Would You Do? Decisions By French and German Judges and Laypeople on Sanctions for Everyday Delinquency Fabien Jobard 5.2 Laypersons and their Penal Rationalities: A Card Game to Shed Light on the Penal Demand of the French and German Populations Bénédicte Laumond 6.Politics and Punishment 6.1. Law-and-order Politics: The Ticket to Success for Political Actors? Bénédicte Laumond and Shaïn Morisse 6.2 Governing Crime in Parliament Bénédicte Laumond and Elena Zum-Bruch 6.3 Always More and Never Enough? An Analysis of Trends in Criminal Legislation in France and Germany Since 1995 Johanna Nickels 7.Punishment and the Media 7.1 The Mediated Construction of Crime Nicolas Hubé and Claire Ruffio 7.2 Tabloidization of News Rather Than Punitive Turn - Crime and Penal Issues on French and German Newspaper Front Pages (1971-2017) Nicolas Hubé and Claire Ruffio 7.3 Reporting on a "Politically Sensitive but Profitable" Issue - Field Logics and Individual Perceptions of Crime in France and Germany Claire Ruffio and Elena Zum-Bruch Part Three: Impending Challenges to Penal Moderation in France and Germany 8.A Strained Restraint - The Ambivalences of Penal Moderation in Germany and France Kirstin Drenkhahn, Fabien Jobard and Tobias Singelnstein