IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/crimin/v60y2020i2p363-381..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘It’s Like a Sentence Before the Sentence’—Exploring the Pains and Possibilities of Waiting for Imprisonment

Author

Listed:
  • Julie Laursen
  • Kristian Mjåland
  • Ben Crewe

Abstract

This article explores the implications of the ‘imprisonment queue’ in Norway. Based on interview data (N = 200), we show that while interviewees waiting to serve their sentences enjoy certain benefits such as being able to prepare for or negotiate the terms of their imprisonment, they also suffer from uncertainty and powerlessness. The suspension of their lives while they wait hinders them in pursuing their ground projects, things that really matter to them. This peculiar phenomenon has not received attention from prison scholars generally, as well as scholars writing on Nordic Exceptionalism specifically. This article addresses that gap and poses questions about the relative mildness of the short Norwegian sentences, and more broadly, about what constitutes punishment.

Suggested Citation

  • Julie Laursen & Kristian Mjåland & Ben Crewe, 2020. "‘It’s Like a Sentence Before the Sentence’—Exploring the Pains and Possibilities of Waiting for Imprisonment," The British Journal of Criminology, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, vol. 60(2), pages 363-381.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:crimin:v:60:y:2020:i:2:p:363-381.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/bjc/azz042
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:crimin:v:60:y:2020:i:2:p:363-381.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxford University Press (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/bjc .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.