Resisting the Politics of Punishment: Political Culture and the Evolution of Canadian Criminal Justice Policy

Abstract

<p>Background: The Canadian jurisdiction has a long history of stable imprisonment rates, facilitated in part by policymakers and successive governments advocating for restraint on the use of incarceration and advancing a moderate and balanced approach to crime and its control more generally. However, between 2006-2015, the country saw a complete shift in thinking and action around crime control towards more punitive ends with the election of the new Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). Yet, despite a decade of tough on crime rhetoric and the passing of 42 criminal justice bills, the prison population did not rise appreciably and there has been no discernable change in public opinion. Moreover, throughout this era, the CPC was one voice among many and faced a significant amount of discursive and legal resistance. Today, crime control no longer occupies the political arena and, more optimistically, with the election of the Liberal Party of Canada in 2015 the country appears to have reverted back to its roots in penal moderation. This decade of CPC power, therefore, provides the ideal case study from which to explore what drives and affects penal change around the world and more specifically to highlight the necessary factors and conditions behind the varying 'success' of penal populism as a governing strategy.</p>