This article examines the relationship between the concept of legitimacy and the power to punish in modern society. It argues that the rise of penal populism is related to the way in which criminal justice elites steadily lost legitimacy in the post-1970s period. However, it goes on to argue, using New Zealand as an illustration, that there are limits to the power of penal populism. It too can lose its legitimacy when it breaches the boundaries of morally justifiable punishment levels or when it loses consent for what it promises to do.
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