NCJ Number
125940
Date Published
1989
Length
242 pages
Annotation
This examination of punishment in its own right is intended to enhance the general understanding of penal practice by an investigation of the subject in a wide range of social contexts.
Abstract
This involves the examination of the practice of punishment, not simply as a typical State sanction, but as a pervasive feature of social organization and control in both past and contemporary societies. Penal practice in a variety of historical and cultural contexts is considered, including the family, kinship and tribal groupings, small communities, educational institutions, the workplace and the commercial environment, criminal organizations, and the wider international community as well as that of the State. Penal practice is discussed in terms of the agents, subjects, and methods of punishment. A theme of the analysis is the relationship of theory and practice. Overall, this book widens the scope of the debate about the use of punishment as an instrument of human organization and behavioral control, presenting various perspectives of punishment and questioning the boundaries between various disciplines: juridical, philosophical, sociological, psychological, and historical. 137-item select bibliography and subject and name indexes (Publisher summary modified)