presents a seminar on
DANGEROUSNESS AND PENAL POLICY
by
Professor John Pratt
Institue of Criminology, Victoria University
Wellington, New Zealand
One of the most prevalent themes in English speaking penal systems at the present time is the activation (or reactivation) of special measures to provide some form of indefinite detention for those thought to be "dangerous". In penology this term has a specific meaning, since the first introduction of such measures about a century ago and, is usually taken to refer to that group of offenders whose propensity to repeat their crimes puts the well-being of the rest of the community at risk; and such offenders also tend to be regarded as likely to have a problematic but legally unclassifiable mental state. It is this combination of repeated criminality and undeterminable mental state that has prompted the introduction of special measures of control. These have usually taken the form of empowering the court to impose some form of indefinite detention, or some form of additional detention over and above the usual prison term for the particular offence, and which can frequently overlap with civil powers of indefinite detention. These measures are usually known as preventive detention, but other examples today would include the sexual predator and the Three Strikes laws in the United States and derivatives to be found elsewhere. This talk discusses the development of these new sentencing 'options' and raises critical questions about the potential for over-reliance on the concept of "dangerousness".
Professor Pratt is reader at the University of Victoria and editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology. His main interests are history and sociology of punishment. He has recently co-edited with Mark Brown a collection of essays entitled "Dangerous Offenders: Punishment and Social Order" [2000: Routeledge]. Previous works include "Punishment in a Perfect Society" [1993: Victoria University Press] and "Governing the Dangerous" [1997: Federation Press].
Date: Thursday, June 29, 2000
Time: 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Senior Common Room, 14/F, K.K. Leung Building, The University of Hong Kong.