ABSTRACT
The conventional explanation for the growth in prison rates is to see it as a reflection of the growth in crime. As early as 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that the democratic spirit and struggle for equality he met during his travels in the USA at that time also had some potential problematic aspects. There are few countries so pleasant to visit as the USA. The warm atmosphere in many encounters, the care for new neighbours, the fascination of the variations within the large cities. Most difficult of all is to meet colleagues from the USA. American criminology rules much of the world, their theories on crime and crime control exert an enormous influence. American criminologists are kind and conscientious people, kind to visitors, conscientious in their standards of scientific activity. Norway has always been more oriented towards England and the USA than towards Continental Europe.
