Law, Insecurity and Risk Control

John Pratt is Professor of Criminology at the Institute of Criminology, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His fields of research are comparative penology and the history and sociology of punishment. He has published in eleven languages and has been invited to lecture at universities in South America, North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. His books include Punishment and Civilization (2002), Penal Populism (2007) and Contrasts in Punishment (2013). His work is often cited in the international media including TIME, The Observer and The Financial Times.

“Law, Insecurity and Risk Control, authored by John Pratt, is a masterful and timely scholarly account to how criminal law and criminal justice is transformed in contemporary Anglo-American jurisdictions. … Law, Insecurity and Risk Control is very well-written and thought-provoking. It is a must-read for understanding the contemporary development of criminal justice in Anglo-American jurisdictions. Furthermore, the insights this book provides transcend the jurisdictions it examines and could potentially inform other jurisdictions … .” (Zhuozhen Duan, Asian Journal of Criminology, Vol. 19 (1), 2024)“It is beautifully and devastatingly written. It combines heart-stirring prose with astutely observed empirical examples. I have long followed Pratt’s research and writing, and this book, in my opinion, is simply his finest.” (Jo Phoenix, The British Journal of Criminology, August 18, 2021)“Law, Insecurity and Risk Control makes a major contribution to our understanding of the recent history and current landscape of criminal justice across the Anglo common law world. … It is full of rich nuggets of empirical material drawn from across the Anglo world … that he relies on to both develop and illustrate the analysis. In addition, it is a compelling read.” (Russell Hogg, International Journal for Crime,Justice and Social Democracy, Vol. 10 (2), 2021)

• 1. Introduction.- 2. "Never Again".- 3. Set Risk Free.- 4. The Celebration of Risk.- 5. Fear and Anxiety in the Risk Society.- 6. The Rise of the Security Sanction.- 7. Issues of Legitimacy – Legal and Political.- 8. The Revolt against Uncertainty.- 9. The End.