Of Neo-Liberalism and Comparative Punishment

Abstract

This contribution to a symposium on Loïc Wacquant’s Punishing the Poor endorses Wacquant’s claim that the extraordinary increase in American punitiveness over the last 35 years must be seen in the context of market-friendly American neo-liberalism. However, the contribution expresses some doubt about whether American-style neo-liberalism, and American-style punishment, are likely to dominate in countries like France. American punishment practices rest on some distinctive American values, including equality of opportunity, a certain moralism in the understanding of criminal law, and a resistance to deference to expert bureaucratic authority. Because those values are less influential in the law of countries like France, the American punishment revolution is unlikely to be successfully transplanted.