Nils Christie – Crime Control as Industry (1993)

CrimeActs or omissions that violate criminal laws and are punishable by the state. Control as Industry: Towards GULAGS, Western Style? is one of the most influential works in critical criminology. Published in 1993 by Norwegian criminologist Nils Christie, the book delivers a stark critique of modern penal systems, particularly the alarming growth of incarceration in Western democracies. Christie likens the penal apparatus to a profit-oriented industry and warns of its potential to evolve into a self-sustaining institution driven more by economic and political interests than justice or rehabilitation.

Key Points

Crime Control as Industry by Nils Christie

Author: Nils Christie

First Published: 1993

Country: Norway

Discipline: CriminologyThe scientific study of crime, criminal behavior, prevention, and societal reactions to deviance within and beyond the criminal justice system., Penal Policy

Key Concepts: Penal Industry, PrisonA prison is a secure institution where individuals are confined by the state as a form of punishment, pretrial detention, or social control. Expansion, Scarcity of Pain

Related Theories: AbolitionismA movement advocating for the elimination of prisons and punitive justice systems in favor of transformative, community-based approaches., Penal PopulismPenal populism refers to criminal justice policies driven more by public opinion and political gain than by evidence-based research or expert advice., Critical CriminologyA perspective that examines power, inequality, and social justice in understanding crime and the criminal justice system.

Core Arguments

1. The Penal SystemThe set of institutions and practices designed to administer criminal punishment. as a Growth Industry:
Christie famously argues that modern societies have created a crime control industry—a system in which the criminal justice apparatus, particularly prisons, functions like an economic sector. This industry thrives on high rates of incarceration and is sustained by a complex network of public and private actors who benefit from prison expansion. The metaphor suggests that the penal system has become self-perpetuating, creating demand for its own services through increasingly punitive policies.

2. The Scarcity of Pain:
A cornerstone of Christie’s theory is the notion that pain—particularly the pain of punishment—should be treated as a scarce resource. In democratic societies, the deliberate infliction of suffering must be rationed and subjected to stringent ethical scrutiny. Christie warns that once punishment becomes normalized and routinized, it loses its moral weight, leading to a dangerous inflation of penal severity.

3. Surplus of Criminalized Behavior:
Christie emphasizes that societies possess a near-infinite supply of behavior that can be labeled criminal. What counts as a crime is not fixed, but politically constructed. As such, expanding the definition of crime—especially through policies like the War on DrugsGovernment-led campaign aiming to reduce drug use and trade through criminalization and policing.—creates a steady stream of people to be processed and punished by the penal industry.

4. Prison Expansion as a Political Strategy:
In Christie’s view, prison growth serves not only economic interests but also political ones. „Tough on crime“ rhetoric provides politicians with symbolic capital, portraying them as protectors of public safety. At the same time, the focus on incarceration deflects attention from structural problems such as poverty, racism, and inequality.

Historical Context and Critique of the U.S. Model

Although Christie wrote from a Scandinavian perspective, he pays particular attention to developments in the United States, which he identifies as the global leader in punitive excess. He criticizes the U.S. for its extraordinarily high incarceration rates, racial disparities, and prison privatization, suggesting that European societies are in danger of following a similar path. The subtitle—„Towards GULAGS, Western Style?“—is a deliberate provocation, inviting readers to consider the parallels between capitalist democracies and authoritarian regimes when it comes to penal practices.

Critical Reception and Legacy

Christie’s work has been widely praised for its moral clarity and rhetorical force. It played a foundational role in the development of abolitionist and decarceral thinking in criminology and remains a key reference for scholars and activists advocating for penal reform. The book also contributed significantly to public debates about prison privatization, zero-tolerance policing, and the politics of fear.

While some critics have argued that Christie’s style is too polemical or that he romanticizes Scandinavian penal models, his central insights about the dangers of penal inflation and the commodification of punishment continue to resonate in contemporary debates—particularly in light of mass incarceration, racialized policing, and the prison-industrial complex.

Connections to Other Theories

Abolitionism: Christie’s work aligns closely with penal abolitionist perspectives, such as those advanced by Thomas Mathiesen and Angela Davis. All three share a commitment to reducing society’s reliance on incarceration and challenging the legitimacy of the prison system as a default response to harm.

Critical Criminology: Christie’s analysis exemplifies the spirit of critical criminology, questioning the ideological functions of criminal justice and exposing the ways in which power operates through penal institutions. His focus on economic and political interests parallels Loïc Wacquant’s work on neoliberal penality.

Risk and SecurityProtection from threats, harm, or danger.: Christie’s critique of penal expansion also intersects with theories of securitization and risk society. Like David Garland and Jonathan Simon, he sees the rise of punitive policies as part of a broader political shift towards managing uncertainty and fear through coercive control.

References

• Christie, N. (1993). Crime Control as Industry: Towards GULAGS, Western Style? London: Routledge.
• Mathiesen, T. (1974). The Politics of Abolition. Oxford: Martin Robertson.
• Davis, A. Y. (2003). Are Prisons Obsolete? New York: Seven Stories Press.
• Garland, D. (2001). The Culture of Control: Crime and Social Order in Contemporary Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Wacquant, L. (2009). Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity. Durham: Duke University Press.
• Simon, J. (2007). Governing Through Crime. New York: Oxford University Press.