This collection, from a range of leading international scholars, looks at penal practice in a variety of different European countries. Noting particularities as well as similarities, such as the overuse of imprisonment and the use of harsher sanctions against the poor, this book questions how we justify and deliver punishment in Europe.

Preface; Vincenzo Ruggiero and Mick Ryan 1. Introduction; Mick Ryan 2. Regression to the Mean: Punishment in the Netherlands; Miranda Boone and René van Swaaningen 3. Punishment in Sweden; Enrik Tham and Hanns von Hofer 4. Punishment as politics: the Penal System in England and Wales; Emma Bell 5. The Irish Penal System: Pragmatism, Neglect and the Effects of Austerity; Mary Rogan 6. The French Criminal Justice System; Philippe Robert 7. Contradictions in German Penal Practices: the Long Goodbye from the Rehabilitation Principle; Bernd Dollinger and Andrea Kretschmann 8. The Russian Penal System; Laura Piacentini 9. Poland: the Political Legacy and Penal Practice; Monika P?atek 10. Soft and Harsh Penalties in Bulgaria; Philip Gounev 11. Italy: Between Amnesties and Emergencies; Patrizio Gonnella) 12. The Spanish Penal and Penitentiary System: from the Re-socialising Objective to the Internal Governance of Prisons; Mónica Aranda Ocaña and Iñaki Rivera Beiras 13. Greece: Prisons are Badbut Necessary (and Expanding), Policies are Necessary but Bad (and Declining); Vassilis Karydis and Nikolaos K. Koulouris 14. Conclusion; Vincenzo Ruggiero

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