Frameworks for punishment: Implications on 21st century corrective services

Research output: Book chapter/Published conference paperChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

Abstract

The ‘retributive emotion’, the feeling that the guilty deserves to suffer, plays a major role in the design of penal policies. Through populism and media-driven moral panics, this emotion has been systematically employed to support the harsh treatment of prison inmates. This chapter highlights how the retributive emotion, although legitimate, may lead to policies that conflict with the very principles grounding the criminal justice system. Chief among these principle is a commitment to treating citizens, offenders included, as autonomous agents. Penal policies must be inclusive, rather than exclusive, and address the offender with the respect due to his status as autonomous. After outlining the main tenets of Antony Duff’s communicative theory of punishment, which stresses the need to treat the offender also as a subject, not a mere object, the chapter concludes by flagging some necessary policy changes, including the practice of felon disenfranchisement.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPrisons and community corrections
Subtitle of host publicationCritical issues and emerging controversies
EditorsPhilip Birch, Louise A. Sicard
Place of PublicationAbingdon, Oxon
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter1
Pages3-15
Number of pages13
ISBN (Electronic)9781003010562
ISBN (Print)9780367818715
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Publication series

NameRoutledge innovations in corrections

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