ABSTRACT
This chapter provides sketches of the use of imprisonment in different continental European countries, identifying the groups that are mainly targeted by penal measures. These are followed by an analysis of the manifest and latent functions of punishment in the countries considered. The countries examined are divided on a purely geographical basis. The prison system in Italy is fostered by a succession of emergencies associated with specific groups of offenders. Such groups are the target of ad hoc pieces of legislation or judicial and executive policies, and demand for their punishment becomes high at particular historical moments. Prosecutors and judges held negative views about imprisonment: 'an orientation shaped by their law school education, by their ongoing connections to criminological experts, and by the historical memory of internment under the Nazis'. A final thought should be given to the function of punishment when the targets, as in the countries examined, are mainly marginalized, excluded groups.
