Scandinavian Exceptionalism in an Era of Penal Excess: Part II: Does Scandinavian Exceptionalism Have a Future?

Abstract

Part II of this paper examines the current for prospects for Scandinavian exceptionalism. It argues that Finland, Norway and Sweden have all experienced, to a degree, declines in earlier levels of social solidarity, security and homogeneity, jeopardizing the future of their low levels of imprisonment and humane prison conditions. These experiences have not, though, been uniform -Sweden is now most at risk, the other two less so. The paper goes on to discuss the broader political and sociological implications of Scandinavian exceptionalism in the contemporary era of penal excess.