From the chain gang to the electric chair, the problem of how to deal with criminals has long been debated. What explains this concern with getting punishment right? And why do attitudes toward particular punishments change radically over time? In addressing these questions, Philip Smith attacks the comfortable myth that punishment is about justice, reason, and law. Instead he argues that punishment is an essentially irrational act founded in ritual as a means to control evil without creating more of it in the process. "Punishment and Culture" traces three centuries of the history of...
From the chain gang to the electric chair, the problem of how to deal with criminals has long been debated. What explains this concern with getting pu...
From the chain gang to the electric chair, the problem of how to deal with criminals has long been debated. What explains this concern with getting punishment right? And why do attitudes toward particular punishments change radically over time? In addressing these questions, Philip Smith attacks the comfortable myth that punishment is about justice, reason, and law. Instead he argues that punishment is an essentially irrational act founded in ritual as a means to control evil without creating more of it in the process. "Punishment and Culture" traces three centuries of the history of...
From the chain gang to the electric chair, the problem of how to deal with criminals has long been debated. What explains this concern with getting pu...
