20 years Culture of Control. : Do we have a better understanding of transformations in crime control?

In this paper, I revisit David Garland's Culture of Control. Should we still read this book, 20 years after it was first published, and why? My point will be that the transformations Garland describes, the major changes that occurred in crime control in the United States and the United Kingdom between 1970 and 2000, will undoubtedly become less relevant to our understanding of contemporary crime control practices. But mapping those changes, describing the new culture of control, may never have been the main added value of the Culture of Control in the first place. Much more important is the explanation the book offers for those transformations. David Garland explains how a society's approach to crime changes and why this process is inextricably linked to that society. The book therefore continues to provide a basis for future research.