1st Edition

Rethinking Punishment in the Era of Mass Incarceration

Edited By Chris Surprenant Copyright 2018
    344 Pages
    by Routledge

    344 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    One of the most important problems faced by the United States is addressing its broken criminal justice system. This collection of essays offers a thorough examination of incarceration as a form of punishment. In addition to focusing on the philosophical aspects related to punishment, the volume’s diverse group of contributors provides additional background in criminology, economics, law, and sociology to help contextualize the philosophical issues. The first group of essays addresses whether or not our current institutions connected with punishment and incarceration are justified in a liberal society. The next set of chapters explores the negative effects of incarceration as a form of punishment, including its impact on children and families. The volume then describes how we arrived at our current situation in the United States, focusing on questions related to how we view prisons and prisoners, policing for profit, and the motivations of prosecutors in trying to secure convictions. Finally, Rethinking Punishment in the Era of Mass Incarceration examines specific policy alternatives that might offer solutions to our current approach to punishment and incarceration.

    Introduction – Why do we punish?



    Chris W. Surprenant





    Chapter 1 – The Problem of Punishment



    John Hasnas





    Chapter 2 – Unconscionable Punishment



    Michael Huemer





    Chapter 3 – The Coproduction of Justice



    Nathan Goodman





    Chapter 4 – The Certainty of Punishment and the Proportionality of Incarceration



    Chris Barker





    Chapter 5 – Imprisonment and the Right to Freedom of Movement



    Robert Hughes





    Chapter 6 – Are there Expressive Restraints on Incarceration?



    Bill Wringe





    Chapter 7 – Punishment, Restitution, and Incarceration



    David Boonin





    Chapter 8 – Communicative Theories of Punishment and the Impact of Apology



    Eddy Nahmias and Eyal Aharoni





    Chapter 9 – A Reparative Approach to Parole-Release Decisions



    Kristen Bell





    Chapter 10 – Restorative Justice in High Schools: A Roadmap to Transforming Prisons



    Johanna Luttrell





    Chapter 11 - Reforming Youth Incarceration in the United States



    Cara Drinan





    Chapter 12 – Policing for "Profit": The Political Economy of Private Prisons and Asset Forfeiture



    Abigail R. Hall and Veronica Mercier





    Chapter 13 – Why Paternalists and Social Welfarists Should Oppose Criminal Drug Laws



    Andrew Cohen and Bill Glod





    Chapter 14 – The Need for Prosecutorial Guidelines



    John Pfaff





    Chapter 15 – Prison Tunnel Vision



    Joshua Dohmen





    Chapter 16 – Exile as an Alternative to Incarceration



    Briana McGinnis





    Chapter 17 – Corporal Punishment as an Alternative to Incarceration



    Jason Brennan





    Chapter 18 – The Potentials and

    Biography

    Chris W. Surprenant is Associate Professor in Philosophy and Director of the Alexis de Tocqueville Project in Law, Liberty, and Morality at the University of New Orleans, USA. He is the author of Kant and the Cultivation of Virtue (Routledge 2014), co-editor of Kant and the Scottish Enlightenment (Routledge 2017) and Kant and Education: Interpretations and Commentary (Routledge 2011), and has written numerous articles on various aspects of Kant’s moral and political philosophy.