A possible distinct feature within in Nordic model is the lack of a private prison industry and that there is only a small delegation of non-sovereign activities within the prison system. In other countries, you find private prisons driven by profit motives and/or private actors on non-sovereign areas. It seems obvious that the dichotomy private/public administration of justice has to do with fundamental structures of the state, and that that Nordic Punishment Model is a result of the Nordic Social and Economic Model. Therefore, changes in society in addition to practical need challenges the model; Norway for example rented a prison in the Netherlands due to shortage of prison space.
Our hypothesis is that there also is a link between the retribution and social policy- arguments for the use of punishment and prisons and the dichotomy private/public administration of justice, and we want to explore the hypothesis from a conceptual, analytical and empirical perspective by comparing Norway, Georgia and the U.S.