Conversion and the Rehabilitation of the Penal System
A Theological Rereading of Criminal Justice
«Skotnicki's splendid new book offers us an incisive critique of the criminality of our current criminal justice system. Erudite, yet eminently readable, Conversion and Rehabilitation of the Penal System presents a cogent case against both retributive and deterrent rationales for detention. Looking ahead to a systemic rehabilitation of our carceral regime, Skotnicki looks back to the original legitimation of incarceration-conversion and restoration to moral community.»
William O'Neill, S.J., Lo Shiavo Chair in Catholic Social Thought, University of San Francisco
The Cincinnati Penal Congress of 1870 ushered in the era of "progressive" penology: the use of statistical and social scientific methodologies, commitment to psychiatric and therapeutic interventions, and a new innovation-the reformatory-as the locus for the application of these initiatives. Les mer
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The Cincinnati Penal Congress of 1870 ushered in the era of "progressive" penology: the use of statistical and social scientific methodologies, commitment to psychiatric and therapeutic interventions, and a new innovation-the reformatory-as the locus for the application of these initiatives. The prisoner was now seen as a specimen to be analyzed, treated, and properly socialized into the triumphal current of American social and economic life. Of course, the
Progressive rehabilitative initiatives succumbed in the 1970s to withering criticism from the proponents of equally futile strategies for addressing "the crime problem": retribution, deterrence, and selective incapacitation.
The early Christian community developed a methodology for correcting human error that featured the unprecedented belief that a period of time spent in a given penitential locale, with the aid and encouragement of the community, was sufficient in and of itself to heal the alienation and self-loathing caused by sin and to lead an individual to full reincorporation into the community. The "correctional" practice was based upon the conviction that cooperative sociability-or conversion-is
possible, regardless of the specific offense and that there is no need to inflict suffering or use the act of punishment as a warning to potential offenders or to intervene in the life of the offender with rehabilitation.
Andrew Skotnicki contends that the modern practice of criminal detention is a protracted exercise in needless violence predicated upon two foundational errors. The first is an inability to see the imprisoned as human beings fully capable of responding to an affirmative accompaniment rather than maltreatment and invasive forms of therapy. The second is a pervasive dualism that constructs a barrier between the detainee and those empowered to supervise, rehabilitate, and punish them. In this book,
Skotnicki argues that the criminal justice system can only be rehabilitated by eliminating punishment and policies based upon deterrence, rehabilitation, and the incapacitation of the urban poor and returning to the original justification for the practice of confinement: conversion.
Progressive rehabilitative initiatives succumbed in the 1970s to withering criticism from the proponents of equally futile strategies for addressing "the crime problem": retribution, deterrence, and selective incapacitation.
The early Christian community developed a methodology for correcting human error that featured the unprecedented belief that a period of time spent in a given penitential locale, with the aid and encouragement of the community, was sufficient in and of itself to heal the alienation and self-loathing caused by sin and to lead an individual to full reincorporation into the community. The "correctional" practice was based upon the conviction that cooperative sociability-or conversion-is
possible, regardless of the specific offense and that there is no need to inflict suffering or use the act of punishment as a warning to potential offenders or to intervene in the life of the offender with rehabilitation.
Andrew Skotnicki contends that the modern practice of criminal detention is a protracted exercise in needless violence predicated upon two foundational errors. The first is an inability to see the imprisoned as human beings fully capable of responding to an affirmative accompaniment rather than maltreatment and invasive forms of therapy. The second is a pervasive dualism that constructs a barrier between the detainee and those empowered to supervise, rehabilitate, and punish them. In this book,
Skotnicki argues that the criminal justice system can only be rehabilitated by eliminating punishment and policies based upon deterrence, rehabilitation, and the incapacitation of the urban poor and returning to the original justification for the practice of confinement: conversion.
Detaljer
- Forlag
- Oxford University Press Inc
- Innbinding
- Innbundet
- Språk
- Engelsk
- ISBN
- 9780190880835
- Utgivelsesår
- 2019
- Format
- 14 x 16 cm
- Priser
- Winner of the 2019 Aldersgate Prize null
Anmeldelser
«Skotnicki's splendid new book offers us an incisive critique of the criminality of our current criminal justice system. Erudite, yet eminently readable, Conversion and Rehabilitation of the Penal System presents a cogent case against both retributive and deterrent rationales for detention. Looking ahead to a systemic rehabilitation of our carceral regime, Skotnicki looks back to the original legitimation of incarceration-conversion and restoration to moral community.»
William O'Neill, S.J., Lo Shiavo Chair in Catholic Social Thought, University of San Francisco
«For all those people who are tired of the traditional debates about 'the purpose of punishment,' Andrew Skotnicki offers an analysis that is as unique as it is thought-provoking. His view of the current dilemma, one that many would agree with, culminates in a conclusion that is both surprising and compelling.»
Todd R. Clear, Distinguished Professor in the School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University
«As a plea for a non-violent penology, Andrew Skotnicki's book is nothing less than an attempt to get Americans to stop talking about crime and how to punish it and to focus instead on harm and how we might help people to heal. It is a timely, vitally necessary, and potentially ground-shifting book.»
Joshua Dubler, author of Down in the Chapel: Religious Life in an American Prison