The Politics of Redress
Crime, Punishment and Penal Abolition
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Book Description
First published in 1990, The Politics of Redress is a product of and commentary on significant developments in critical criminology. It shifts the emphasis from the criminologist as a police agent to a fighter for social justice. The author focuses on the role of punishment in society, in general, and in criminology, in particular, urging the reader to reimagine the concept of punishment, especially penal punishment. The arguments addressed in this book range from a comparative analysis of penal policies in various countries to philosophical debates about whether punishment is compatible with a just social order. With the Black Lives Matter movement, the topic of prison abolition has, once again, gripped society’s conscience making this text a vital read for students of law, criminology, sociology, philosophy, and history.
Table of Contents
Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Fuzzy morals and flaky politics 3. Explaining expansion 4. Explaining Contraction 5. Penal abolition and sociological imagination 6. The necessity of punishment in a just social order 7. Institutionalization of socialist legality 8. Conclusion Notes References Index
Author(s)
Biography
Willem de Haan