Parole Futures: Rationalities, Institutions and Practices (Oņati International Series in Law and Society) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1509982175 ISBN 13: 9781509982172

Publisher: Hart Publishing, 2025

Synopsis

Does parole have a future? If it does, can we begin to imagine a different path? Is progressive penal reform possible, or has the time come to consider more radical alternatives in a context where there is little, if any, consensus on the underlying aims and techniques of contemporary prison release? What does this all mean for the prisoners, families, victims and publics upon whose confidence the parole system ultimately depends?

This book brings together a world-leading panel of 27 experts who draw upon insights from law, sociology, criminology and political science to explore these pressing questions. At a time when many parole systems are experiencing considerable strain, the aims of this collection are twofold: first, to encourage systematic and critical reflection on the rationalities, institutions and practices of parole. Second, to think big, and pose ambitious 'what if' questions about the possible futures of parole and prison release.

Offering novel insights from Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America, this collection builds the case for, and then showcases, a 'way of doing' parole research that is global in outlook, interdisciplinary in approach and unapologetically normative in character.

About this title

About the Authors

Harry Annison is Professor of Criminal Justice at Southampton Law School, University of Southampton, UK.

Rosemary Hunter FacSS is Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and Founding Head of Law at the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Loughborough University, UK. She is a feminist socio-legal scholar with particular interests in family law and family justice processes, judging and the judiciary, and access to justice. She has published widely on these topics in both Australia (where she began her academic career) and the UK. With Anne Barlow, she was a member of the ESRC-funded Mapping Paths to Family Justice project, which resulted in their prize-winning book, Mapping Paths to Family Justice: Resolving Family Disputes in Neoliberal Times (Barlow, Hunter, Smithson and Ewing, 2017). Rosemary has been the Academic Member of the Family Justice Council since 2016 and leads the Council's Domestic Abuse Working Group. She is also a member of the Private Law Working Group and the Ministry of Justice's Expert Panel on Harm in the Family Courts. She is a former Chair of the SLSA and a former Council member of JUSTICE.

Nicola Carr is Professor of Social Work and Social Policy at the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

David Nelken is Professor of Comparative and Transnational Law and past Vice-Dean for Research at King's College London, UK. Widely published in sociology of law and in criminology, he has received awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Society of Criminology, the International Sociological Association, and the (USA) Law and Society Association. He has twice been a Trustee of the LSA and Vice-President of the RSCL.

Thomas Guiney is Assistant Professor of Criminology at the School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Hart Publishing
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1509982175
• ISBN 13: 9781509982172
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Annison Harry, Carr Nicola, Guiney Thomas