Keywords

• This contribution is based on an interview realized with Louk Hulsman a few months before his death
• in occasion of a lecture he gave at the master in Critical Criminology at the University of Padua. The introduction is focused on a personal description of Hulsmanâ€
• ™
• style in his interaction and communication. The interview starts with a reflection about the biographical roots of his abolitionist approach
• which is later compared with other forms of abolitionism and considered with reference to the recent criminal justice system evolution in the western countries. The cultural and material expansion of the strategy of punishment beyond the limits of the penal horizon are seen as challenges for the future perspectives of abolitionism