Punishment & Society 15(5) 515–533 ! The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1462474513504796 pun.sagepub.com Article The rule of law, security-development and penal aid: The case of detention in Haiti Kara Brisson-Boivin Carleton University, Canada Daniel O’Connor University of Waterloo, Canada Abstract The combination of flawed penality, crushing poverty and a natural disaster that deva- stated Haiti’s already fragile criminal justice infrastructure made the country a fitting candidate for a new kind of international aid effort, which we call penal aid. This inter- national aid effort uses rule of law theories and practices to develop credible criminal justice institutions and reform penal practice throughout the world. According to rule of law measures, detention indicates flawed justice and a weak state, whereas trial and transformative punishment promotes global security and poverty reduction. The rule of law is a method for punishing better, a mechanism of international aid, a measure of global security and a means for the recognition of law-abiding states. Rule of law recon- struction is about international state-crafting and remaking Haiti in the image of a global penal state. Keywords aid policy, detention, Haiti, rule of law, security, United Nations Introduction Detention is a form of penal practice. It is typically understood as a limited gov- ernmental measure where an accused is confined in advance of a trial or judicial Corresponding author: Daniel O’Connor, Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada. Email: daniel.oconnor@uwaterloo.ca