ABSTRACT
It has been suggested that: ‘globalisation may be the concept, the key idea by which we understand the transition of human society into the third millennium’ ( Waters, 2001: 1; emphasis in original). Reflecting that assertion, globalization has become ‘a central topic of debate across the social science disciplines’ ( Waters, 2001: 210; see also Giddens, 2002: 7), including those concerned with matters of criminal law and justice (see, for example, Findlay, 1999; Loader and Sparks, 2002; Nelken, 1997). This chapter aims to contribute to the latter, specialized discussion by offering a critical examination of the relationship between globalization and what has been described as the new punitiveness. In so doing, it does not focus on developments in any specific jurisdiction, but rather seeks to draw some general conclusions about the role that globalization forces have played across a diversity of Western nations.
