Abstract
It is with great pleasure that we announce that Sarah Cate and Daniel HoSang have won the 2018 Theoretical Criminology best article prize, for their piece ‘“The better way to fight crime”: Why fiscal arguments do not restrain the carceral state’. In their thoughtful analysis of historical changes of state-level policy in Oregon, Sarah Cate and Daniel HoSang offer a creative challenge to the widespread contemporary understanding of fiscal austerity as a supposedly ‘new’ discourse limiting punishment. Their manuscript presents a compelling account of the limits of fiscal arguments in restraining the carceral state. Representative of some of the best qualities of the new political science literature in the USA, which is breathing new life into our understanding of punishment, this article maps the growth of the Oregon state prison population over a 15-year period. A sobering read, this article offers a well-developed set of reasons for why prisons remain so hard to either reduce or eradicate, even when fiscal austerity is advanced as a justification for limiting punitiveness.
This year, Theoretical Criminology will be running two special issues. Reflecting current politics around the world, both address themes relating to the intersections between criminal justice and migration control. As we write this editorial at the end of 2018, the UK continues to grapple with Brexit, while Trump, in the USA, persists in ramping up anti-immigrant sentiment. Across Europe Italy has begun turfing asylum seekers onto the street, under the harsh new rule of Salvini, Greece is gearing up for elections where the right is poised to seize power and Hungary’s populist government continues to criminalize mobility. In the South, Australia stands accused of actions amounting to torture in its treatment of refugees. Although previously considered beyond the remit of our discipline, such matters have become imbricated within and shaped by criminal justice agencies and practices, built into policing, incarceration and an understanding of crime.
This year too, we will see articles on a range of other topics, from Gypsy/Travellers to time and space. Familiar topics remain central to theoretical debates, punishment, neoliberalism and privatization. As the field of theoretical criminology continues to flourish, submissions to the journal remain high. This high volume of submissions also translates into a large amount of reviewing. We are very grateful to those who take the time to review for us and give useful and constructive feedback. Thank you.