摘要：Spain has suffered a big increase of imprisonment between 1980 and 2006, passing from an average prison population of 17,000 prisoners in 1980 to 63,000 in 2006, meaning a growth of 266% in average prison population in 26 years. In order to explore the reasons for this increase in prison population, this paper proposes that is useful to distinguish two main periods: a) 1980-1994 (increase in prison population, followed by stability between 1995 and 2000, and b) 2001-2006 (a second increase in prison population). During these two periods, the growth of incarceration rates is higher in the first period (12% average increase per year) than in the second (6% average increase per year). More recent trends seem to announce an even more pronounced escalation of imprisonment in the foreseeable future. Authors proposes that the two trends that in Spain contribute to the enlargement of the prison incarceration rates, the larger time served by prisoners and the criminalization of new phenomena, will continue in the future.
其他摘要：Spain has suffered a big increase of imprisonment between 1980 and 2006, passing from an average prison population of 17,000 prisoners in 1980 to 63,000 in 2006, meaning a growth of 266% in average prison population in 26 years. In order to explore the reasons for this increase in prison population, this paper proposes that is useful to distinguish two main periods: a) 1980-1994 (increase in prison population, followed by stability between 1995 and 2000, and b) 2001-2006 (a second increase in prison population). During these two periods, the growth of incarceration rates is higher in the first period (12% average increase per year) than in the second (6% average increase per year). More recent trends seem to announce an even more pronounced escalation of imprisonment in the foreseeable future. Authors proposes that the two trends that in Spain contribute to the enlargement of the prison incarceration rates, the larger time served by prisoners and the criminalization of new phenomena, will continue in the future.
关键词：prison;incarceration rates;penal reforms;sociology of punishment.
