At the end of the 1960s, a prisoners' movement critical of the prison system developed in the Scandinavian countries. Particularly strong in Norway, the key expression of this abolitionist movement was the notion of ‘the unfinished’. The political message of the Norwegian Prison Movement (KROM) is that the unfinished state of politics towards any desired socio-political development should be considered not as a flaw, but rather as a political possibility. The discussion among Norwegian criminologists and sociologists of law critical of the combination of treatment and criminal justice in the 1950s and 1960s was an indispensable condition for the development of a politics of abolition. This article sketches the central arguments of the discussion, and a connection is established between the abolitionist perspective and sociological theory.
Adamson, M. , Grip, L. , Modig, C. and Nestius, H. (eds) (2004) När botten stack upp. Om de utslagnas kamp för frihet och människovärde. Hedemora: Gidlunds förlag .
2.
American Friend's Service Committee (1971) Struggle for Justice. New York: Hill & Wang .
3.
Aubert, V. (1954) Om straffens sosiale funksjon. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget .
4.
Aubert, V. (1958) ‘Legal Justice and Mental Health’ , Psychiatry: Journal of the Study of Interpersonal Processes21: 101 ff-101 ff .
5.
Aubert, V. (1964a) Likhet og rett. Oslo: Pax Forlag .
6.
Aubert, V. (1964b) ‘Avvik: Forbrytelse eller sykdom’, in Israel (ed.) Sociala avvikelser och social kontroll,pp. 62 ff-62 ff. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell .
7.
Aubert, V. and Mathiesen, T. (1959) ‘Rettspsykiatriske erklæringer 1930–1953’, NTfK, pp. 231 ff.
8.
Beccaria, C. (1966) Über die Verbrechen und Strafen. Nach der Ausgabe von 1766. Übersetzt und herausgegeben von Wilhelm Alff. Frankfurt/Main: Insel Verlag.
9.
Bentham, J. (1970) An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. London: Athlone Press .
10.
Bødal, K. (1973) ‘Ungdomsfengslet etter syv år’, Nordisk Tidsskrift Lov og Rett, pp. 325 ff.
11.
Bratholm, A. (1959) En sosial-statistisk analyse av klientelet på Opstad Arbeidshus. Oslo: Institutt for kriminologi og strafferett.
12.
Christie, N. (1955a) ‘Varetektsfangers forventninger og innstillinger til straff’, NTfK, pp. 210 ff.
13.
Christie, N. (1955b) ‘Løsgjengeres negative innstillinger til sanksjonene’, NTfK, pp. 165 ff.
14.
Christie, N. (1960) Tvangsarbeid og alkoholbruk. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
15.
Christie, N. (1975) Hvor tett et samfunn. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
16.
Christie, N. (1981) Limits to Pain. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget .
17.
Contemporary Crisis (1986) No. 1.
18.
Eriksson, L. (ed.) (1967) Varning för vård. Helsinki: Söderström.
19.
Feuerbach, A. Von (1828) Lehrbuch des gemeinen in Deutschland gültigen peinlichen Rechts.Gießen: Druck und Verlag von Georg Friedrich Heyer.
20.
Habermas, J. (1976) Zur Rekonstruktion des Historischen Materialismus.Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp.
21.
Heckscher, S., Snare, A., Takala, H. and Vestergaard, J. (1980) Straff och rättfärdighet. Stockholm: Norstedt.
22.
Hegel, G. W. F. (1965) Wissenschaft der Logik. Teil 1. Die objektive Logik, in H. Glockner (ed.) Sämtliche Werke Jubiläumsausgabe in 20 Bänden, Band 4. 4. Auflage. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstadt. [The Science of Logic, Book 1, The Doctrine of Being, Quality-Quantity – Measure. ‘Section 1, Determinateness (Quality), § 184’, translated by A. V. Miller]. London: Allen and Unwin .
23.
Hirsch, A. v. (1976) Doing Justice. The Choice of Punishment. New York: Hill & Wang .
24.
Jacobsen, K. (1967) ‘Politisk fattigdom’, Kontrast, Heft 1, pp. 6 ff.
25.
Lipton, D. , Martinson, R. and Wilks, J. (1975) The Effectiveness of Correctional Treatment. A Survey of Treatment Evaluation Studies. New York: Praeger .
26.
Lyngstad, R. (1974) Kriminal-Politik og Politisk Innverknad. Oslo: Institutt for Statsvitskap.
27.
Mäkelä, K. (1967) ‘Varning för vård’, in Eriksson (ed.) Varning för vård, pp. 28 ff-28 ff. Helsinki: Söderström.
28.
Martinson, R. (1974) ‘What Works? Questions and Answers about Prison Reform’ , The Public Interest, No. 35, pp. 22 ff-22 ff .
29.
Mathiesen, T. (1965) The Defences of the Weak. London: Tavistock .
30.
Mathiesen, T. (1971) Det uferdige. Oslo: Pax Forlag.
31.
Mathiesen, T. (1974) The Politics of Abolition. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget .
32.
Mathiesen, T. (1975 Løsgjengerkrigen. Oslo: Pax Forlag.
33.
Mathiesen, T. (1979) Überwindet die Mauern! Neuwied/Darmstadt: Luchterhand Verlag.
34.
Mathiesen, T. (1980) Law, Society and Political Action. London: Academic Press .
35.
Mathiesen, T. (1986) ‘The Politics of Abolition’, Contemporary Crisis, pp. 81 ff-81 ff.
36.
National Swedish Council for Crime Prevention (1975) General Deterrence – A Conference on Current Research and Standpoints, 2–4 June 1975. Report No. 2. Stockholm.
37.
Nestius, H. (ed.) (1969) Behandling som straff. Stockholm: Prisma .
38.
Nestius, H. (ed.) (1970) I stället för fängelse. Stockholm: Prisma.
39.
Offe, C. (1973) ‘Politische Herrschaft und Klassenstrukturen. Zur Analyse spätkapitalistischer Gesellschaftssysteme’, in Kress/Senghaas (ed.) Politikwissenschaften, pp. 135 ff-135 ff. Frankfurt/Main.
40.
Papendorf, K. (1985) Gesellschaft ohne Gitter. Eine Absage an die traditionelle Kriminalpolitik. München: AG Spak Verlag.
41.
Papendorf, K. (1993) ‘Zur Rezeptionsgeschichte dieses Buches und was macht KROM heute?’ in T. Mathiesen, Überwindet die Mauern! pp. 195 ff-195 ff. Bielefeld: AJZ-Verlag.
42.
Ryan, M. (1978) The Acceptable Pressure Group. Farnborough, Hants: Saxon House .
43.
Schmidt-Semisch, H. (2002) Kriminalität als Risiko. Schadenmanagement zwischen Strafrecht und Versicherung. München: Gerling Akademie Verlag.
44.
Schobloch, K. (2002) Abolitionistische Modelle im Rechtsstaat. Bern, Stuttgart and Wien: Verlag Paul Haupt.
45.
Schumann, K. F. (1985) ‘Labeling Approach und Abolitionismus’ , Kriminologisches Journal, pp. 19 ff-19 ff .
46.
Schumann, K. F. and Voß, M. (1981) ‘Versuchte Gefangenenbefreiung’, in Zeitschrift für Rechtssoziologie 2: 168 ff.
47.
Schur, E. M. (1973) Radical Non-Intervention. New York: Englewood Cliffs .
48.
Smaus, G. (1986) ‘Gesellschaftsmodelle in der abolitionistischen Bewegung’, Kriminologische Journal, pp. 1 ff.
49.
Steinert, H. (1987) ‘Marxsche Theorie und Abolitionismus’, Kriminalsoziologische Bibliographie, pp. 131 ff.
50.
Swaaningen, R. Van (1997) Critical Criminology. Visions from Europe. London: Sage .
51.
Syse, A. (ed.) (1972) Kan fengsel forsvares? Oslo: Pax Forlag.
52.
Taylor, I., Walton, P. and Young, J. (1974) ‘Ansichten für eine radikale kriminologische Theorie und Praxis’. In: Arbeitskreis junger Kriminologen (ed.) Kritische Kriminologie. München: Juventa Verlag.
53.
Treiber, H. (1973) Widerstand gegen Reformpolitik. Institutionelle Opposition im Politikfeld Strafvollzug. Düsseldorf: Bertelsmann-Universitätsverlag.
54.
Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on Criminal Sentencing (1976) Fair and Certain Punishment. Background paper by Alan M. Dershowitz. New York.
55.
Vingtras, J. (1972) ‘Rote Hilfe und politische Justiz in Frankreich’, Kritische Justiz, Heft 1.
56.
Ward, D. (1973) ‘Evaluation Research for Corrections’, in Ohlin (ed.) Prisoners in America. New York: Amer Assembly .
