NCJ Number
245312
Journal
Criminology Volume: 51 Issue: 3 Dated: August 2013 Pages: 475-517
Date Published
August 2013
Length
43 pages
Annotation
This study examines the sociology of punishment in other nations.
Abstract
The sociology of punishment has developed a rich understanding of the social and historical forces that have transformed American penalty during the last 40 years. But whereas these social forces are not unique to the United States, their penal impact there has been disproportionately large, relative to comparable nations. To address this issue, the author suggests that future research should attend more closely to the structure and operation of the penal state. The author began by distinguishing penalty (the penal field) from the penal state (the governing institutions that direct and control the penal field). The author then presents a preliminary conceptualization of "the penal state" and discusses the relationship between the penal state and the American state more generally. (Published Abstract)