Criminal Justice Policy Transfer and Prison Counter-Radicalization: Examining Canadian Participation in the Roma-Lyon Group

Abstract

AbstractThreats of radicalization have become dominant tropes for Western security agencies. This article examines efforts to address radicalization in the penal setting. Examining the prison counter-radicalization project directed by the secretive G8 Roma-Lyon Group, the article details Canadian participation on the basis of wanting to acquire counter-radicalization best practices from abroad. Contributing to criminal justice policy transfer studies, the article highlights disjunctures between reforms programs driven by powerful actors and particular contexts where these prescribed policy reforms take shape. Characterizing the Roma-Lyon Group as a venue for norm-makers such as the United States and the United Kingdom, and Canada as a norm-taker, the article traces the transfer of counter-radicalization practices from the transnational to the national level. Underlining how the replication of counter-radicalization policies fits into trends of precautionary risk and governing through insecurity, the article concludes by highlighting what the transfer of prisoner radicalization policy means for future socio-legal research.