Rethinking Punishment Challenging Conventions in Research and Policy

There are visible signs that the "get-tough" era of punishment is finally winding down. A "get-smart" agenda has emerged that aims to reduce costs and crime by reducing the incarceration of non-violent drug offenders, expanding use of community-based corrections, revising sentencing structures, and supporting offender re-entry into the community. This change in policy affords an opportunity to re-examine and challenge certain other conventions in the study and practice of punishment.

Each chapter of Rethinking Punishment examines a convention and posits arguments that challenge that convention and expand the conversation. These arguments are based on the prior literature, existing and original data, and historical documents. These conventions and arguments for rethinking punishment are framed accordingly:

• Justifying Penal Policy
• Defining the Attributes of Punishment
• Measuring the Scope and Severity of Punishment
• Evaluating Effectiveness in Punishment

Finally, the author provides specific recommendations for research and policy based on these original arguments. Drawing on underlying philosophical, empirical and political issues and offering a critical discussion of the relationship between research, policy and practice, this book makes compelling and instructive reading for students taking courses in criminal justice, corrections, philosophy of punishment, the sociology of punishment, and law and justice.

Preface

1. Introduction

1.1 From "Get-Tough" to "Get-Smart"

1.2 Chapter Framework

1.3 A Note on Exclusions and Terminology

2. Justifying Punishment: A Moral and Economic Defense of Policy

2.1 Part I: Classic Philosophies of Punishment

2.2 Part II: Post-Classic Justifications of Punishment

2.3 Summary and Conclusions

3. Defining Punishment: The Essential Attributes of Penal Activity

3.1 What is Punishment? Definitions from the Academic Literature

3.2 What is Punishment? A Legal Framework

3.3 What is Punishment? A Social Control Framework

3.4 What is Punishment? A Power Theory Framework

3.5 Summary and Conclusions

4. Measuring Punishment: The Scope & Severity of Penal Activity

4.1 A Brief History on the Measurement of Punishment

4.2 Part I: The Scope of Penal Activity

4.3 Part II: The Severity of Penal Activity

4.4 Summary and Conclusions

5. Evaluating Punishment: "What Works" and the Pursuit of Effectiveness

5.1 The Expectations and Evaluation of Punishment: An Historical Perspective

5.2 The New Evidence-Based Culture

5.3 What We Know About "What Works"

5.4 Summary and Conclusions

6. Prescribing Punishment: Alternative Directions in Research & Policy

6.1 Conventions in Prescribing Research & Policy

6.2 Justifying Punishment: Loss Reduction as Penal Policy

6.3 Defining & Measuring Punishment: More Debate, More Data

6.4 Evaluating Punishment: Severity, Community and Insider Knowledge

6.5 Final Thoughts

Karol M. Lucken is Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, University of Central Florida, USA