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Retributivism Has a Past

Retributivism Has a Past Has It a Future?

Author: Michael Tonry
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA
ISBN: 9780199798278
Published In: January 2012
Format: Hardback , 304 pages
Jurisdiction: U.S. ? Disclaimer:
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Fills an important gap in the literature on punishment
Considers the future of punishment in the light of the rise and fall of retributivism

The fundamental contrast between the ideas that punishment is morally justified because people have behaved wrongly (retributivist) and that punishment is morally justified only when it has good consequences (consequentialist/utilitarian) has long existed and most likely always will. Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s, retributivist ways of thinking became much more influential than they had been for the preceding century, but it is clear now that no paradigm shift from consequentialist to retributivist ideas occurred, and that thinking about punishment is in a period of flux.

Retributivism Has a Past: Has It a Future? reconsiders the extent of its resurgence and its current prospects. Essays by major figures in punishment theory, law, and philosophy and many prominent younger contributors to these debates engage with contemporary ideas about restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, rehabilitation of offenders, and mandatory punishments that are difficult to reconcile with retributive analytical frameworks. It is crucial to understand why and when individuals can be deprived of their property, their liberty, and their lives in the pursuit of collective interests, and this book grapples anew with contemporary debates over these perennial questions.

Readership: Scholars and students of punishment and sentencing in law schools and criminology and criminal justice departments, as well as those in philosophy, political science, public policy and sociology departments.

Preface
One: Can Twenty-first Century Punishment Policies be Justified in Principle?
Michael Tonry, University of Minnesota
Two: What Does Wrongdoing Deserve?
John Kleinig, CUNY
Three: Is Twenty-first Century Punishment Post-Desert?
Matt Matravers, York University
Four: Responsibility, Restoration, and Retribution
R. A. Duff, University of Minnesota
Five: Punishment and Desert-adjusted Utilitarianism
Jesper Ryberg, Roskilde University, Copenhagen
Six: The Future of State Punishment: The Role of Public Opinion in Sentencing
Julian V. Roberts, Oxford University
Seven: A Political Theory of Imprisonment for Public Protection
Peter Ramsay, London School of Economics
Eight: Terror as a Theory of Punishment
Alice Ristroph, Seton Hall University
Nine: Can Above-desert Penalties Be Justified by Competing Deontological Theories?
Richard S. Frase, University of Minnesota
Ten: Never Mind the Pain; It's a Measure! Justifying Measures as Part of the Dutch Bifurcated System of Sanctions
Jan de Keijser, University of Leiden
Eleven: Retributivism, Proportionality, and the Challenge of the Drug Court Movement
Douglas Husak, Rutgers University
Twelve: Drug Treatment Courts as Communicative Punishment
Michael M. O'Hear, Marquette University
Thirteen: Reflections on Punishment Futures: The Desert-Model Debate and the Importance of the Criminal Law Context
Andreas von Hirsch, Cambridge University

Edited by Michael Tonry, Professor of Law and public policy, University of Minnesota Law School, Senior Fellow, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, Free University Amsterdam

Michael Tonry is Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of Minnesota Law School, and Senior Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, Free University Amsterdam.

Contributors:
R. A. Duff is professor of law at the University of Minnesota and professor emeritus in the department of philosophy, University of Stirling.; Richard S. Frase is Benjamin N. Berger Professor of Criminal Law at the University of Minnesota.; Douglas Husak is professor of philosophy at Rutgers University.; Jan de Keijser is associate professor of criminology at the University of Leiden, Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology.; John Kleinig, director of the Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics, is professor of philosophy in the department of law and police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and in the PhD programs in philosophy and criminal justice, City University of New York.; Matt Matravers, professor, is director of the School of Politics, Economics, and Philosophy at York University.; Michael M. O'Hear, is associate dean for research and professor, Marquette University Law School.; Peter Ramsay is lecturer in law in the London School of Economics, department of law.; Alice Ristroph is professor of law at Seton Hall University.; Julian V. Roberts is professor of criminology at Oxford University.; Jesper Ryberg is professor of ethics and philosophy of law in the department of philosophy and science studies at Roskilde University, Copenhagen.; Michael Tonry is professor of law and public policy, University of Minnesota, and senior fellow, Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, Amsterdam.; Andreas von Hirsch is honorary professor, law faculty, University of Frankfurt; emeritus honorary professor of penal theory and penal law, University of Cambridge; and honorary fellow, Wolfson College, Cambridge.

"Writings on theories of punishment are legion, but this volume has a distinct freshness--a group of top international scholars with varying perspectives have been encouraged to explore the interfaces between philosophies of punishment and contemporary penal practices. Nothing is taken for granted. Drug courts, 'three strikes and you're out' laws, and sentences lengthened for public protection are all vital issues of public policy that receive scrutiny in this volume. While the title of the volume refers to retributivism, the essays themselves are not confined to discussions of the future of desert theory: they explore the future place of restorative justice, incapacitation and other rationales, and examine challenges to the basic tenets of desert theory. The intellectual freshness of this volume should make it a focus of study and argument for years to come."
--Andrew Ashworth, Vinerian Professor of English Law, University of Oxford

"Retributivism Has a Past is an important book that both reconsiders the past and may well reconfigure the future of criminal punishment. Michael Tonry's grand introductory essay examines retributivism's resurgence in light of actual practices, especially in the United States. Each of the essays by other major figures in punishment theory, law, and philosophy critically examines a variety of theories of punishment, old and new. Many of the essays, including several by prominent younger contributors to these debates, engage contemporary theories and concepts of restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, rehabilitation of offenders, and mandatory punishments. Most newer approaches are difficult to reconcile, both in theory and in practice, with retributive understandings of criminal justice."
--Kate Stith, Lafayette S. Foster Professor, Yale Law School