SECTION I. THE PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY OF PRISONS Chapter 1. The Rationale for Imprisonment

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Chapter 1

• The Rationale for Imprisonment

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Philosophy of Punishment

• Philosophy
• A critical study of fundamental beliefs and the
  grounds for them
• Philosophy of punishment explains why we punish
• Punishment
• Infliction of pain, by a lawful authority, in
  response to a violation

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Retributive Rationale

•  Punishment is not an evil
• Retribution is providing punishment equal to the
  wrongful act
• Right to punish lies in the social contract
• But does everyone benefit from social contract?
• Immanuel Kant criminal deserves punishment

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Utilitarian Rationale

• Punishment is an evil that can only be justified
  by a greater good
• Utilitarianism defines good as that which
  benefits the majority
• Cesare Beccaria punishment must be certain,
  swift, and proportional to crime
• Jeremy Bentham Hedonistic calculus (deter
  through promise of pain)
• Social contract is relevant to utilitarianism
• Goals of punishment deterrence, incapacitation,
  rehabilitation
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Methods of Punishment

• Corporal
• Economic
• Psychological

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Philosophy of Imprisonment

• Discussion of philosophy shifts from punishment
  in general to prison in particular

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Paradigms and Prison

• Conservative view of prison
• Deterrence and incapacitation (up to l800s)
• Liberal view of prison
• Reformation and rehabilitation (1900s)
• Radicalism
• Use of prison has economic rationale
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The New Conservatism Justice and Just Desserts

• Mid 1980s disillusionment with rehabilitative
  era of the 1970s
• New retributivism
• Punishment should be central purpose

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The Effect of Retributivism and a New Era (1 of 2)

• Restorative Justice An Alternative Philosophy?
• Penal harm movement prison is excessively
  harmful to individuals and communities
• Restorative justice meeting needs of victims,
  offenders and communities
• Mediations, sentencing conferences, sentencing
  circles, victim compensation
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The Effect of Retributivism and a New Era (2 of 2)

• Utilitarian Caring The Reintegrative Movement
• Recognition of large numbers (some say 600,000)
  prisoners released into community
• Reintegration is a term from the 1970s
• Recognition that ex-prisoners need help adapting
  to community living