Harsh Justice

Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide Between America and Europe
Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-0-19-518260-6
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 336 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 540 g

Criminal punishment in America is harsh and degrading--more so than anywhere else in the liberal west. Executions and long prison terms are commonplace in America. Countries like France and Germany, by contrast, are systematically mild. European offenders are rarely sent to prison, and when they are, they serve far shorter terms than their American counterparts. Why is America so comparatively harsh? In this novel work of comparative legal history, James Whitman argues that the answer lies in America's triumphant embrace of a non-hierarchical social system and distrust of state power which have contributed to a law of punishment that is more willing to degrade offenders.

Zielgruppe

Students and scholars of legal history, political science, history, criminology, and sociology.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Whitman, James

Whitman, James Q.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kriminalsoziologie
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsvergleichung
• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Kriminologie, Strafverfolgung

Über Autor(innen)

James Q. Whitman is Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law at Yale University. He has taught at Stanford and Harvard Law Schools and was trained as a historian at the University of Chicago before taking his law degree at Yale.