This article considers the implications of cultural values, political-cultural arrangements and the changing mediascape for the distinct cultural resources on crime and punishment that we consume as citizens. It first explores what we mean when we talk about punitiveness, making the important, yet often overlooked, distinctions between public attitudes, political rhetoric, public policy and penal practice. Next, the ways in which the media constrain how we perceive problems and the means of solving them are considered, especially the ways these constraints are influenced by different political-cultural styles. ‘Stealth’ penal reforms, in which punitive rhetoric is employed by politicians to divert attention away from more progressive policies pursued quietly on the sly, are criticized because they tend to legitimize and regenerate only punitive ideational resources for public consumption. Finally, implications for future research are offered along with some practical suggestions for enriching public discourse in order to nourish and sustain a broader range of understandings and responses to crime.
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