The Happy Lad And Other Tales From The Norwegian

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1882 edition. Excerpt: ...fast." They all burst out laughing together, and Oeykind not least; he knew very well it was true, but it was not possible for him to speak slower. Everything new he had seen and learned during his long absence had. so excited his imagination and understanding, and so driven him out of old habits, that faculties which had long been dormant seemed almost frightened into action, and his brain was constantly at work. They remarked, furthermore, that he had a habit here and there of taking up three or four words and repeating them over and over again in his hurry; it seemed as if he were stumbling over them. Sometimes it was ridiculous; but then he laughed, and it was forgotten. The schoolmaster and his father sat and watched to see whether he had lost any of his thoughtfulness; but it did not appear so. He remembered everything, and was even the one to remind them to lock the boat. He unpacked his clothes immediately, and hung them up, showed his books, his watch, everything new, and all was well taken care of, his mother said. He was greatly pleased with his little room; he wished to be at home in the beginning, he said, to help in the hay-making, and to study. Where he should go afterwards he did not know, but it was quite the same to him. He had acquired a quickness and a power of thought which was quite refreshing, and a liveliness in the expression of his feelings which does so much good to one who is striving the whole year through to repress his own. The schoolmaster grew ten years younger. "Now we have got so far with him," said he, radiant, as he rose to go. When the mother had re-entered, after accompanying him to the door-step outside as usual, she signed to Oeykind to come into the little bed-room. "There will...

Why do some modern societies punish their offenders differently to others? Why are some more punitive and others more tolerant in their approach to offending and how can these differences be explained? Based on extensive historical analysis and fieldwork in the penal systems of England, Australia and New Zealand on the one hand and Finland, Norway and Sweden on the other, this book seeks to answer these questions. The book argues that the penal differences that currently exist between these two clusters of societies emanate from their early nineteenth-century social arrangements, when the Anglophone societies were dominated by exclusionary value systems that contrasted with the more inclusionary values of the Nordic countries. The development of their penal programmes over this two hundred year period, including the much earlier demise of the death penalty in the Nordic countries and significant differences between the respective prison rates and prison conditions of the two clusters, reflects the continuing influence of these values. Indeed, in the early 21st century these differences have become even more pronounced. John Pratt and Anna Eriksson offer a unique contribution to this topic of growing importance: comparative research in the history and sociology of punishment. This book will be of interest to those studying criminology, sociology, punishment, prison and penal policy, as well as professionals working in prisons or in the area of penal policy across the six societies that feature in the book.