Abolitionism and the paradox of penal reform in Australia: indigenous women, colonial patriarchy, and cooption

In this article we provide an exploration of abolitionism in the context of the Australian colonial project. Our intention is to advance a critical understanding of the paradoxes and challenges presented to the abolitionist vision by the project of penal reform. During the twentieth and twenty-first...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social justice (San Francisco, Calif.) Calif.), 2015-01, Vol.41 (3), p.168-189
Main Authors: Baldry, Eileen, Carlton, Bree, Cunneen, Chris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abolitionism
Australia
Criminal law
Indigenous populations
Penal policy
Prisoners
Reform
Social problems
Women
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Summary:In this article we provide an exploration of abolitionism in the context of the Australian colonial project. Our intention is to advance a critical understanding of the paradoxes and challenges presented to the abolitionist vision by the project of penal reform. During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Australia has witnessed the emergence of a diffuse patchwork of abolition and prisoner rights campaigns, which have been informed by the unique political and cultural contexts of the various Australian state jurisdictions.1 Some of these campaigns, specifically in states such as New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, have had a profound impact by eliciting and shaping government and correctional penal reform programs (Brown and Zdenkowski 1982; Carlton 2007). Paradoxically, Australia has witnessed at the same time a revalorization of the prison and of punitive measures as primary solutions for dealing with social problems and structural disadvantage (Baldry et al. 2011).
ISSN:1043-1578