How can the brutal and costly enterprise of criminal punishment be justified? This text makes a contribution to the philosophical literature and debate on the morality of punishing, arguing that punishment is justified in the duties that offenders incur as a result of their wron…
"Qualities of Mercy deals with the history of mercy in criminal justice. The writers probe the discretionary use of power and examine how it has been exercised to spare convicted criminals from the full might of the law. Looking at England, Canada, and Australia in periods when …
Securing compliance is the subject of this collection of interdisciplinary studies. Each attempts to provide a better understanding of why people comply with the law and what techniques may prove most effective in achieving that goal. Together the papers raise two important ques…
Recently a growing number of Christians have actively promoted the concept of "restorative justice" and attempted to develop programs for dealing with crime based on restorative principles. But is this approach truly consistent with the teaching of Scripture? To date, very littl…
Plea bargaining is among the most controversial practices within the US criminal justice system. It offers the accused less punishment in exchange for an admission of guilt and can impose added punishment on those who insist on going to trial. This book offers an extended critic…
Why are certain methods of punishment adopted or rejected in a given social situation? To what extent is the development of penal methods determined by basic social relations? The answers to these questions are complex, and go well beyond the thesis that institutionalized punish…
The contributors offer analysis and explanations of new developments in retributivism, the philosophical account of punishment that holds that wrongdoers must be punished as a matter of right, duty, or justice, rather than deterrence, rehabilitation, or vengeance.
A collection of essays by major figures in punishment theory law, and philosophy that reconsiders the popularity and prospects of retributivism, the notion that punishment is morally justified because people have behaved wrongly.