Anstaltens ambivalenta funktion : En studie av den samtida kriminalvårdsdiskursen

• Main Author: Pettersson, Helena
• Format: Others
• Language: Swedish
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för tematisk utbildning och forskning 2005
• Subjects: Interdisciplinary studies; Kriminalvård; makt; Foucault; diskursanalys; liberalism; nyliberalism; klassificering Correctional system; power; discourse analysis; new liberalism; classification; TVÄRVETENSKAP; Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-2967

Due to the attention of several escapes, rescue attempts and hostage situations from Swedish prisons during the year of 2004 a debate about correctional system and safety arose. It resulted in official reports and proposals to improve the safety of the institutions. The incidents of 2004 will most likely have an effect on the discourse of the correctional system. The purpose with this study is to analyse which discourses that today can be distinguished in the correctional system and thereby will be the foundation of the correctional systemof tomorrow. The method used to answer the purpose of the study is a Foucauldian based discourse analysis. A perspective of socialconstructionism that leans upon the thought that it through language and text is possible to read processes of society and power. Power is a central idea in the study. By discerning the activated instruments of power in the Swedish correctional system it is possible to analyse the discourses made visible by these instruments of power. Two different discourses may in the analysis be seen as the main influence in the work of correctional system. The liberalistic idea of empowerment is visible in the work against relapsing criminals, where focus is set on personal responsibility and the will of adjustment as a way of reentering society. New liberalistic ideas represent the second discourse where power works threw surveillance and control. In a risksociety we must protect ourselves from threats and dangers, which makes the prison a way of keeping the criminals distanced from society. Classification is activated, to make the two discourses co-exist, as a way to create reliability around the work against relapsing criminals. By reproducing the norms and structure of our society we classify the level of digression and thereby punish as a way of handling it. To find a new way in to the debate about correctional system perhaps we need to ask ourselves: What function do we want the punishment to have?