The evolution of European Union criminal law (1957-2012)

to the consequences of crime; 967 in the policing sector, a shift towards more proactive
policing techniques and towards a more intensive policing of disorder, incivilities and
misdemeanours, and the introduction of technology and new management techniques to
produce more directed problem solving approaches and tighter control of resources. In
particular, police forces began to develop flexible links with other partners. 968 These
transformations led to a paradoxical outcome according to which, Garland states,
“…the State strengthens its punitive forces and increasingly acknowledges the
inadequate nature of this sovereign strategy. Alongside an increasingly punitive
structure, one also sees the development of new modes of exercising power by which the
state seeks to ‘govern at a distance’ by forming alliances and activating the
governmental powers of non-state agencies.” 969
Transformations towards more repressive criminal justice systems have also been seen
in other countries, although changes were more moderate. These transformations are
primarily visible in a generalised increase in national imprisonment figures. Cavadino
and Dignan, in their comparative study of criminal justice systems around the world,
including a significant number of European countries, found this upwards trend in
punishment in eleven out of twelve countries between 1986 and 2002/3. 970 This trend
was also seen in countries not included in Cavadino and Dignan’s sample. Poland 971 and
Spain, 972 for example, have also experienced a significant increase in imprisonment rates
in the last 30 years and, during the same period, Eastern European countries’ rates were
always considerably higher (more than double) than those in Western Europe. 973
967
Ibid.,121,169.
968
Ibid.,169-171.
969
Ibid.,173.
970
The authors look at developments in England and Wales, The Netherlands, Italy, Germany,
France, Sweden, Finland, USA, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Japan. The USA was
the most extreme example with a 400 per cent increase in the prison population from the mid-
1970s to the 2000s. But also in Europe, many countries followed this trend, although in a more
moderate scale than the USA. In England and Wales for example, the prison population had risen
from about 40,000 in 1975 to more than 75,000 in 2002/3; in the Netherlands it rose from 4,906
in 1986 to 16,239 in 2002/3; in Italy from 43,685 to 56,574 respectively and in France from
4,649 in 1986 to 55,382 in 2002/3 (the authors also make these numbers available in terms of
numbers of prisoners per 100,000 population finding the same trend); see M. Cavadino and J.
Dignan, Penal Systems, supra note 78, 43-49.
971
Krajewski notes how Poland underwent a wave of liberal and reformist policies after the end
of communism but how, in the late 1990s, the ‘liberal optimism’ was clearly over and law and
order policies were on the rise. K. Krajewski, “Crime and Criminal Justice in Poland (Country
Survey)” (2004) 1 European Journal of Criminology 403. Today Poland ranks 5th amongst EU
countries with the highest imprisonment rates (6th if Gibraltar is included) below Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania and the Czech Republic (data from prison studies, see
http://www.prisonstudies.org/info/worldbrief/wpb_stats.phparea=europe&category=wb_poprat)
972
Spain more than tripled its imprisonment rate from 1985 to 2005, see T. Lappi-Seppala,
“Trust, Welfare and Political Culture: Explaining Differences in National Penal Policies” (2008)
37 Crime and Justice 316.
973 Ibid..
254