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This collection, from a range of leading international scholars, looks at penal practice in a variety of different European countries. Noting particularities as well as similarities, such as the overuse of imprisonment and the use of harsher sanctions against the poor, this book questions how we justify and deliver punishment in Europe.

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Preface; Vincenzo Ruggiero and Mick Ryan 1. Introduction; Mick Ryan 2. Regression to the Mean: Punishment in the Netherlands; Miranda Boone and René van Swaaningen 3. Punishment in Sweden; Enrik Tham and Hanns von Hofer 4. Punishment as politics: the Penal System in England and Wales; Emma Bell 5. The Irish Penal System: Pragmatism, Neglect and the Effects of Austerity; Mary Rogan 6. The French Criminal Justice System; Philippe Robert 7. Contradictions in German Penal Practices: the Long Goodbye from the Rehabilitation Principle; Bernd Dollinger and Andrea Kretschmann 8. The Russian Penal System; Laura Piacentini 9. Poland: the Political Legacy and Penal Practice; Monika P?atek 10. Soft and Harsh Penalties in Bulgaria; Philip Gounev 11. Italy: Between Amnesties and Emergencies; Patrizio Gonnella) 12. The Spanish Penal and Penitentiary System: from the Re-socialising Objective to the Internal Governance of Prisons; Mónica Aranda Oca¤a and I¤aki Rivera Beiras 13. Greece: Prisons are Bad but Necessary (and Expanding), Policies are Necessary but Bad (and Declining); Vassilis Karydis and Nikolaos K. Koulouris 14. Conclusion; Vincenzo Ruggiero

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I¤aki Rivera Beiras, University of Barcelona, Spain Emma Bell, Université de Savoie in Chambéry, France Miranda Boone, Utrecht Willem Pompe Institute of Criminology and Criminal Law, The Netherlands Bernd Dollinger, University of Siegen, Germany Patrizio Gonnella, President of Antigone, an Italian NGO Philip Gounev, Centre for the Study of Democracy in Sofia, Bulgaria Hanns von Hofer, Stockholm University, Sweden Vassilis Karydis, University of Peloponnese, Greece Nikolaos K. Koulouris, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece Andrea Kretschmann, Bielefeld University, Germany Mónica Aranda Oca¤a, University of Barcelona, Spain Laura Piacentini, University of Strathclyde, UK Monika Platek, Warsaw University, Poland Philippe Robert, CNRS Mary Rogan, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland Henrik Tham, Stockholm University, Sweden Rene van Swanningen, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

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