When penal populism meets Scandinavian exceptionalism
Scandinavian countries, and perhaps in particular Norway, have often been highlighted as a redoubt against the rise of penal populism in other parts of Europe and the United States. Of course, the nature and trajectory of this exceptionalism has been debated, including here on this blog. Even ‘celebrity prisons’ like Halden and Bastøy can be painful places to serve a prison sentence. But, as the COMPEN research programme is investigating, the contours of the penal field in Norway are unusual.