Confronting Penal Excess: Retribution and the Politics of Penal Minimalism

Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5099-5213-7
Verlag: BLOOMSBURY 3PL

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 363 g

This monograph considers the correlation between the relative success of retributive penal policies in English-speaking liberal democracies since the 1970s, and the practical evidence of increasingly excessive reliance on the penal State in those jurisdictions.

It sets out three key arguments. First, that increasingly excessive conditions in England and Wales over the last three decades represent a failure of retributive theory. Second, that the penal minimalist cause cannot do without retributive proportionality, at least in comparison to the limiting principles espoused by rehabilitation, restorative justice and penal abolitionism. Third, that another retributivism is therefore necessary if we are to confront penal excess. The monograph offers a sketch of this new approach, 'late retributivism', as both a theory of punishment and of minimalist political action, within a democratic society.

Centrally, criminal punishment is approached as both a political act and a policy choice. Consequently, penal theorists must take account of contemporary political contexts in designing and advocating for their theories. Although this inquiry focuses primarily on England and Wales, its models of retributivism and of academic contribution to democratic penal policy-making are relevant to other jurisdictions, too.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hayes, David

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Ausländisches Recht Common Law (UK, USA, Australien u.a.)
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtspolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Innen-, Bildungs- und Bevölkerungspolitik
• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Strafvollzugsrecht, Strafvollstreckung, Maßregelvollzug, Gnadenwesen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: The Politics of Penal Minimalism

I. The Pursuit of the Minimal Penal State in an Age of Excess

II. The 'Problem of Punishment'

III. The Structure of this Book

PART I
DEFINING PENAL EXCESS
Chapter One: Penal Excess and Penal Minimalism

I. Conceptual Foundations: Penal Excess, Moderation, and Minimalism

II. Political Foundations: Penal Minimalism as a Public Good

III. Conclusion: Two Spatial Metaphors for Penal Excess

Chapter Two: Penal Excess in England and Wales

I. Mass Punishment: Excesses of Size

II. Punishing the Poor: Excesses of Shape

III. Conclusion: The Age of Excess

Chapter Three: Penal Excess as the Failure of Retribution

I. The Historical Context of Retributivism and the Rise of Penal Excess

II. Retributive Proportionality and the Limited Penal State

III. Critiques of Retributive Penal Minimalism

IV. Conclusion: Catching Chimera by the Tail

PART II
PURSUING PENAL MINIMALISM
Chapter Four: Other Routes to Penal Minimalism

I. Rehabilitation and Penal Minimalism

II. Restorative Justice and Penal Minimalism

III. Penal Abolitionism and (Post-)Penal Minimalism

IV. Conclusion: Is Penal Minimalism Possible?

Chapter Five: Proportionality and its Alternatives

I. Five Limiting Factors

II. Conclusion: A 'First Among Equals' Approach to Proportionality?

PART III
CONFRONTING PENAL EXCESS
Chapter Six: Groundwork for a Late Retributivism

I. What Sort of a Theory?

II. Why 'Late' Retributivism?

III. Why Retributivism at All?

IV. Conclusion: Late Retributivism and Orthodox Retributivism

Chapter Seven: Elements of a Late Retributivism

I. Social Awareness: Thinking Beyond the Penal State

II. Political Outspokenness: Towards Substantive Democracy

III. Inter-Subjectivity: Sentencing, for Humans

IV. Self-Deprecation: Towards a Finite Retributivism

V. Conclusion: The Core of Late Retributivism

Chapter Eight: Conclusion: Confronting Penal Excess

Über Autor(innen)

Hayes, David
David Hayes is Lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield