The Comparative Study of Criminal Punishment

This article reviews some of the literature on comparative criminal punishment and suggests possible directions for future research. It focuses on four topics. First is the sociology of modernity found in such authors as Foucault, Durkheim, Garland, Feeley and Simon, and others. While studies of modernity tend to downplay differences in modern societies, the work of these sociologists offer many starting points for valuable research. Second, the article discusses possible approaches to explaining differing degrees of harshness in criminal punishment. Third, the article surveys some of the approaches to the problem of explaining differing rates of violence in different cultures. Fourth, it explores some issues in the intersection between comparative criminal law and the comparative sociology of punishment. The article is intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive.