Following the USA, in many Western countries over the last decade, prison rates have increased while crime rates have declined. This key book examines the role played by penal populism on this and other trends in contemporary penal policy.

John Pratt is Professor of Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington. He has published extensively on the history and sociology of punishment, including Punishment in a Perfect Society (1992), Governing the Dangerous (1997), Dangerous Offenders: Punishment and Social Order (2000, joint editor), Punishment and Civilization (2002), Crime, Truth and Justice (2003, joint editor) and The New Punitiveness (2005, co-editor).

1. What is Penal Populism? 2. Underlying Causes 3. Penal Populism, the Media and Information Technology 4. Penal Populism and Crime Control 5. Competing and Complimentary Influences on Penal Strategy and Thought 6. Is Penal Populism Inevitable?