Progressive penality as performance

Buchan, J. and McNeill, F. (2023) Progressive penality as performance. Howard Journal of Crime and Justice, (doi: 10.1111/hojo.12516) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Scotland's prison population remains stubbornly high despite reforms to sentencing and community penalties (most recently in 2016). Seeking to advance the debate on punishment in Scotland, we use empirical data to support a novel theoretical synthesis of the ‘agonistic framework’ and ‘performative regulation’. We argue that these reforms appear oriented towards decarceration, without substantively engaging with the drivers of imprisonment, and hence exemplify the ‘performative’ nature of much Scottish penal policy. The ‘performance’ is shaped by countervailing political constraints on the Scottish Nationalist government, amid continued debate over independence – but truly progressive penal policy requires radical and substantive responses to the problems that punishment seeks to address.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McNeill, Professor Fergus
• Authors: Buchan, J., and McNeill, F.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Howard Journal of Crime and Justice
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 2059-1098
• ISSN (Online): 2059-1101
• Published Online: 09 February 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Howard Journal of Crime and Justice 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License