American Penology: A History of Control (Enlarged Second Edition)The purpose of American Penology is to provide a story of punishment's past, present, and likely future. The story begins in the 1600s, in the setting of colonial America, and ends in the present. As the story evolves through various historical and contemporary settings, America's efforts to understand and control crime unfold. The context, ideas, practices, and consequences of various reforms in the ways crime is punished are described and examined. Though the book's broader scope and purpose can be distinguished from prior efforts, it necessarily incorporates many contributions from this rich literature. While this enlarged second edition incorporates select descriptions and contingencies in relation to particular eras and punishment ideas and practices, it does not limit itself to individual "histories" of these eras. Instead, it uses history to frame and help explain particular punishment ideas and practices in relation to the period and context from which they evolved. The authors focus upon selected demographic, economic, political, religious, and intellectual contingencies that are associated with historical and contemporary eras to show how these contingencies shaped America's punishment ideals and practices. In offering a new understanding of received notions of crime control in this edition, Blomberg and Lucken not only provide insights into the future of punishment, but also show how the larger culture of control extends beyond the field of criminology to have an impact on declining levels of democracy, freedom, and privacy. |
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American penology argued associated California capital punishment caseload colonial colonial America committed confinement Consequently convicted correctional system crime criminal behavior criminal justice system culture of control death penalty deinstitutionalization delinquency diversion programs drug economic effect efforts elderly inmates emerged example facilities federal prisons female inmates get-tough goals ibid immigrants implemented incarceration increased indeterminate sentencing individualized treatment inmate population institutions intermediate punishment jails juvenile court labeling theory laws mandatory ment mental health mentally ill million moral murder nation overcrowding parole penal reform penal system penitentiary Pennsylvania penology percent practices prison population prisoner rights movement probation officers problems Progressivism rates re-entry recidivism reformatory rehabilitative ideal release reported result role Rothman rules sex offenders social society specific strategies subculture supermax supermax prisons supervision Sykes three-strikes three-strikes law tion U.S. Supreme Court various war on drugs women youth