Prisons & Punishment 101558 (2013) Assessment 2 Research Essay Questions 1. Assess the global move towards privatization of prisons using utilitarian principles of punishment. 2. Are we moving away from the “civilising processes” of modernism that generated the rise of the prison, towards a “de-civilising” (Pratt 1998; 2000) punitive sentiment that characterises contemporary retributive practices in criminal justice? Discuss with reference to the concept of the “new punitiveness” and consider increased prison sentences, the global rise in prison populations and the growth of new community penalties in your answer. 3. Are Community Corrections a “success”? Refer to Cohen’s concept of netwidening, Foucault’s concept of the “carceral network” and the most recent Corrective Services figures on community offenders (http://www.correctiveservices.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/500954/Facts-and-Figures_V13_white.pdf) in your answer. 4. Explain the contemporary disenfranchisement of (child) sex offenders by post sentence controls and indefinite detention. Frame your analysis through concepts of risk and disgust. 5. In mid 2009, the United States of America had the highest imprisonment rate in the world, with a prison population total of 2,297,400; 748 inmates per 100,000 of national population. Federal prisons house 60% more inmates than they were designed for and state prisons are only slightly less full. Through the phenomenon of mass imprisonment, explain Christie’s idea of “dangerous states” with reference to his argument for the minimum possible use of crime control. 6. The latest Bureau of Statistics data shows that women, and in particular, Indigenous women are the fastest growing demographic within the current prison population in Australia. Discuss the intersections of disadvantage which might contribute to this trend.