Inequality and punishment: A global paradox?

Abstract

Across the world, the most marginalised groups of society are overrepresented in prisons and institutions of the criminal justice system. Besides racial and ethnic minorities, prisons worldwide disproportionately house individuals who count among the least educated, most unemployed and poorest groups of society. However, it is one of the paradoxes of penality that whilst it is obvious that criminal justice systems across the world target disadvantaged populations, the link between imprisonment and socio-economic inequality has been mostly elusive on a global and cross-national scale. This contribution addresses this paradox and aims at unravelling it. It will focus on those processes and mechanisms through which social inequality is transmitted into unequal criminal punishment, and how criminal punishment reproduces inequality. I will first present the evidence from a macro- and comparative perspective, and then explore the relationship between punishment and inequality within societies. Imprisonment growth and concentration of imprisonment are identified as routes towards exacerbating and entrenching inequality, thus being a cause rather than a consequence of inequality.

Disparate incarceration rates of foreign citizens in Europe compared to Anglo‐Saxon countries

“…Individual‐level studies consistently show that immigrant involvement in crime is similar to or lower than that of native‐born citizens (e.g., Lee et al, 2001; Sampson et al, 2005). However, researchers have found that socially marginalized groups are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, including prisons (see e.g., Karstedt, 2021). Anderson (2022, p.1) argues that overrepresentation of ethnic and racial groups in prisons “suggests the possibility of widespread bias in law enforcement and/or a pattern of socioeconomic exclusion”.…”

Prison Disproportion in Democracies: A Comparative Analysis

“…Study of the United States—and its uniquely punitive features—has tended to dominate the discussion of prison disproportionalities, yet prior research shows comparable extents of disproportion occurring in several countries and under varied punitive conditions (Tonry 1997). Indeed, it is now practically a criminological truism that “everywhere, the most marginalized groups of society are overrepresented in prisons” (Karstedt 2021, 5). However, cross-national research observing and measuring this overrepresentation remains scarce.…”