This work arrives at a time when the literature in criminology is short of global perspectives. It aims to help fill that gap while it presents important new insights into changing penal policy and practice. The authors write knowledgeably about their home societies without being prematurely bounded by comparative criteria. As a result, they develop a complex and uneven image of similarities and differences, of divergence and convergence through time. In this sense the collection offers a model of how international collaborative work should proceed.