The relationship between theory and practice in the study of punishment

A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. As the editors put it: “The division of academic labour might try to set them apart, but philosophers and sociologists need each other if they are to make sense of the world.”Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 2. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 28. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 29. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 29–30. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 1–2. Duff and Garland offer a number of explanations for the tendency of legislators and judicial actors to mix and match often contradictory normative “modes of thinking.” Their account includes observations about the role that political context and rhetoric play in penal practice.Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 17–18. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 19. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. Although the editors seek to foster a diaglogue between normative theory and empirical work relating to punishment, further divisions on both sides of the theory-practice divide emerge during the course of the book's introduction and persist throughout the volume. Thus, within the theory camp one can discern a separation between the work of moral philosophers and that of other penal theorists,id A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 16, while within the social sciences those working in the field of penology appear distinct from other scholars engaged in a more critical sociology,id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 21. In particular, these essays explore the distinct consequences for the offender, the community, and individual victims of founding nonconsequentialist theories of punishment on individual desert, J.G. Murphy,Marxism and Retribution, inReader supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 47; or community condemnation, Joel Feinberg,The Expressive Function of Punishment, inReader supra, A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 73; or moral healing, Herbert Morris,A Paternalistic Theory of Punishment, inReader, supra, A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 95. Duff & Garland,supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 9–12, 281;see also Francis A. Allen,The Decline of the Rehabilitative Ideal (1981). Thus, Murphy's notions of desert are explicitly rooted in liberal social contract theory, Murphy,supra note 10, In particular, these essays explore the distinct consequences for the offender, the community, and individual victims of founding nonconsequentialist theories of punishment on individual desert, J.G. Murphy,Marxism and Retribution, inReader, at 52–57, while Morris's account is deeply communitarian, Morris,supra note 10,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 95–100. Duff & Garland,supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 93. Murphy,supra note 10 In particular, these essays explore the distinct consequences for the offender, the community, and individual victims of founding nonconsequentialist theories of punishment on individual desert, J.G. Murphy,Marxism and Retribution, inReader at 52–57. Id. Murphy,supra note 10, In particular, these essays explore the distinct consequences for the offender, the community, and individual victims of founding nonconsequentialist theories of punishment on individual desert, J.G. Murphy,Marxism and Retribution, inReader, at 58–62. Duff & Garland,supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 45. Morris,supra note 10, In particular, these essays explore the distinct consequences for the offender, the community, and individual victims of founding nonconsequentialist theories of punishment on individual desert, J.G. Murphy,Marxism, and Retribution, inReader, at 96–100. Id. Morris,suppra note 10, In particular these essays explore the distinct consequences for the offender, the community, and individual victims of founding nonconsequentialist theories of punishment on individual desert, J.G. Murphy,Maxism and Retribution, inReader. at 107. Id. Morris,supra, note 10 In particular, these essays explore the distinct consequences for the offender, the community, and individual victims of founding nonconsequentialist theories of punishment on individual desert, J.G. Murphy,Marxism and Retribution, inReader Andrew von Hirsch,Censure and Proportionality, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 115, 128–130. Michael Tonry,Proportionality, Parsimony, and Interchangeability of Punishments, inReader, supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 136, 154–58. Franklin Zimring,Making the Punishment Fit the Crime: A Consumer's Guide to Sentencing Reform, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 164. James Q. Wilson,Penalties and Opportunities, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 177, examines various crime control strategies in terms of their costs and benefits. Nigel Walker,Reductivism and Deterrence, inReader, supra, A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 212, presents a skillful defense of utilitarian theory against the Kantian claims of retributive critics. Norval Morris,“Dangerousness” and Incapacitation, inReader, supra, A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 241, treats the various problems raised by a policy of incapacitation. Thomas Mathiesen,General Prevention as Communication, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 221. Mathiesen actually directs his attention to the larger category of “general prevention,” which includes not only deterrence but also “moral education” and “habit formation.”Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 225. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 221. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinfater cited toReader]. at 224–25. Id. A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 229. Of course, this sort of media distortion might also operate to increase the deterrent effect of the system, given the tendency of the popular press to focus upon lengthy sentences and capital punishment. I thank George Thomas, Rutgers University School of Criminal Justice for this observation. Mathiesen,supra note 24 Thomas Mathiesen,General Prevention as Communication, at 230–31. Duff & Garland,supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 219. Paul Hirst,The Concept of Punishment, inReader, supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds. 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 264. Edgardo Rotman,Beyond Punishment, inReader, supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 284. Pat Carlen,Crime, Inequality, and Sentencing, inReader, supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 309. Id. Pat Carlen,Crime, Inequality, and Sentencing inReader, supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 310. Id. Pat Carlen,Crime, Inequality, and Sentencing, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 315–21. Herman Bianchi,Abolition: Assensus and Sanctuary, inReader, supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 336. On the role of punishment in the construction of community,see generally Emile Durkheim,The Division of Labor in Society (W.D. Halls trans., 1984). Bianchi,supra note 37 Herman Bianchi,Abolition: Assensus and Sanctuary, inReader supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 336. On the role of punishment in the construction of community,see generally Emile Durkheim,The Division of Labor in Society (W.D. Halls, trans., 1984). at 339–48. Hirst,supra note 32. Paul Hirst,The Concept of Punishment, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 264. Id. Hirst,supra note 32. Paul Hirst,The Concept of Punishment, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader] at 268. Id. Hirst,supra note 32. Paul Hirst,The Concept of Punishment, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 270. Id. Hirst,supra note 32. Paul Hirst,The Concept of Punishment, inReader, supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 272. “A characteristic of ‘law’ (or the legal order) is that its norms claim to be obligatory, and to prevail over all competing norms. To sustain this claim, legal rules—particularly those of the criminal law—are backed by sanctions of various kinds.” Duff & Garland,supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 261. Hirst,supra note 32 Paul Hirst,The Concept of Punishment, inReader, supra note 1,A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 273 (emphasis in original). Duff & Garland,supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 32;See also Harold Garfinkel,Conditions of Successful Degradation Ceremonies, 61 Am. J. Soc. 420 (1956). Durkheim,supra note 37. Herman Bianchi,Abolition: Assensus and Sanctuary, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader]. at 336. On the role of punishment in the construction of community,see generally Emile Durkheim,The Division of Labor in Society (W.D. Halls, trans., 1984). Hirst,supra note 32 Paul Hirst,The Concept of Punishment, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 266. E.g., Michel Foucault,Discipline and Punish (Alan Sheridan trans., 1977). “Prisons are merely one of a series of artefacts of social organization,” along with “insane asylums, hospitals, workhouses, [and] reformatories for delinquent youth.” Hirst,supra note 32 Paul Hirst,The Concept of Punishment, inReader, supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 275. Duff & Garland,supra note 1A Reader on Punishment (R.A. Duff & David Garland eds., 1994) [essays other than editors' remarks hereinafter cited toReader], at 33. E.g., Jeffrey Minson,Genealogies of Morals (1985). Seesupra note 10 In particular, these essays explore the distinct consequences for the offender, the community, and individual victims of founding nonconsequentialist theories of punishment on individual desert, J.G. Murphy,Marxism and Retribution, inReader. Conference,Theoretics of Practice: The Integration of Progressive Thought and Action, 43 Hastings L.J. 717 (1992).