The effects of public reports on reforms of the criminal justice system in Canada and France. Views on penal knowledge within the political sphere

Relying upon comparative doctoral research (France-Canada), this article investigates the specific effects of public reports related to the criminal justice system. These serve a variety of different purposes and impact political-administrative elites from both countries in contrasting ways. First, we show that the authors’ social characteristics determine the ability of the reports to enter the political sphere. Public safety is a high-profile controversial issue in France. The reports thus provided technical backing for governmental crackdown on crime and prison expansion, rather than informing debates. There is relative stability in the political system in Canada, and public safety issues are of lesser political significance. Administrative and parliamentary reports combined to establish penal moderation. This article demonstrates that moderate electoral conflict between parties facilitates the strengthening of a public policy paradigm.