Key Theories & Frameworks
Punishment is morally justified as deserved response to wrongdoing. "Just deserts" — offenders deserve punishment proportional to their crime. Kant: punishment must be imposed only because the person committed a crime. Hegel: punishment annuls the wrong.
Punishment is justified by its consequences — preventing future crime. Specific deterrence: prevent the individual from reoffending. General deterrence: prevent others from offending. Incapacitation: remove offenders from society.
Criminal behavior is caused by psychological, social, or economic factors. Treatment and training can reform offenders. Indeterminate sentencing allowed release when "cured." Dominated US corrections until the 1970s collapse.
Punishment should be proportional to the seriousness of the crime, not offender characteristics. Rejected rehabilitation's indeterminate sentencing. Led to sentencing guidelines and determinate sentencing reforms.
Crime harms relationships. Justice should repair harm through reintegrative shaming — condemning the act while accepting the offender back. Contrasts with stigmatizing shaming that pushes offenders into criminal subcultures.
New penology shifts from rehabilitating individuals to managing dangerous groups. Actuarial justice — predicting risk and sorting offenders into security levels. Focus on efficiency, classification, and control rather than treatment.
Core Concepts
Case Studies & Examples
First penitentiary based on the Pennsylvania System — solitary confinement for reflection and penance. Inmates isolated 24/7, wore hoods when moved. Abandoned due to mental illness among inmates. Influenced global prison design.
1,000 inmates seized Attica Correctional Facility, NY, demanding better conditions. After 4 days, state police retook the prison — 39 dead (29 inmates, 10 guards). Exposed brutal conditions and led to some reforms, but also harsher policies.
Norway's recidivism rate: ~20% (vs. ~68% US). Halden Prison (2010) resembles a campus — cells have TVs, kitchens, en-suite bathrooms. Focus on normalization, rehabilitation, and preparing inmates for release. Officers trained as social workers.
Shifted non-violent, non-serious, non-sex offenders from state prison to county jails to reduce prison overcrowding (Brown v. Plata, 2011). Reduced state prison population by ~30,000. Mixed results on recidivism and county jail conditions.
Practice Questions
A: Retributivism: punishment is deserved, proportional to crime, backward-looking. Utilitarianism: punishment prevents future crime, forward-looking, consequences justify punishment. Retributivism risks excessive punishment; utilitarianism risks punishing innocents if it deters.
A: (1) Martinson Report (1974) — "nothing works" in rehabilitation, (2) rising crime rates, (3) loss of faith in indeterminate sentencing, (4) victims' rights movement, (5) conservative political shift, (6) racial tensions. Led to "just deserts" and determinate sentencing.
A: Feeley & Simon (1992) identified a shift from rehabilitating individuals to managing risk groups. Uses actuarial methods to classify offenders by risk level. Focuses on efficient processing, classification, and containment rather than treatment or reform.
A: (1) Normalization principle — prison life should resemble outside life, (2) focus on rehabilitation and education, (3) trained officers as social workers, (4) short sentences (max 21 years), (5) preparation for reentry, (6) no life without parole, (7) strong social safety net post-release.
A: (1) Employment discrimination (felony record), (2) housing restrictions, (3) loss of voting rights, (4) family disruption, (5) substance abuse and mental health issues, (6) lack of education/job skills, (7) collateral consequences (professional licenses, public benefits), (8) parole conditions creating technical violations.