NCJ Number
143209
Date Published
1992
Length
220 pages
Annotation
By comparing the theory and practice of legal punishment in the U.S., this author holds up ideals to the reality of the criminal justice system by showing how current practices should be challenged, sometimes radically, to implement a just and efficient system.
Abstract
In the introductory chapter, the author attempts to connect external and internal approaches to legal punishment by differentiating between the justification of a particular practice and the justification of a specific action within that practice. Punishing for justice is presented as a retributive immanent criticism of legal punishment, which the author uses to argue that the retributivists give a better and more complete account of the reasons for punishment and therefore of the principle that guides the entire practice of punishment. Subsequent chapters discuss radical criticisms of the practice of legal punishment and the confrontation between immanent and radical criticism, utilitarian and retributive justifications for legal punishment, a detailed analysis of retributive immanent criticism of legal punishment, and what the author terms an immanent criticism of an essentially contested practice. Chapter references, 1 appendix