The Abuses of Punishment / Edition 1

by R. Adams

Overview

This book departs from the customary focus of penology on punishments in criminal and youth justice and deals also with punitive elements of punishments employed, sometimes informally, in the household, nursery, school or at work. It argues that abusive punishments are particularly deeply rooted in authoritarian states in some Western countries such as Britain and the USA. Many punitive practices such as corporal and capital punishment have been exported from imperialist Britain over past centuries. Punishments have shifted ove the past 200 years from public spectacles of the stocks, the whip or the gallows to seclusion of the prison yard, or hte execution house.

The book surveys a variety of psychological, physically constraining, custodial, corporal and capital punishments. The implicit punitive content of judicial processes such as trials, as well as treatments such as behavioural therapy, may have as much psychological impact as more explicitly physical punishments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312176174
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	02/18/1998
Series:	St. Antony's
Edition description:	1998
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

ROBERT ADAMS is Professor of Human Services Development at the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside, Hull, and Visiting Professor to the School of Health, University of Teesside. He has worked in social work and criminal justice settings and is the author of a number of books, including Social Work and Empowerment and Quality Social Work.

Table of Contents

Concepts of Punishment - Histories of Punishment - Psychological Punishment - Punishment by Physical Constraints - Punishment by Custody - Corporal Punishment - Capital Punishment - Evaluating Punishment - Resistance to Punishment - Transcending Punishment - Bibliography - Index

Editorial Reviews

'This is an important book and one that I would certainly choose to have close by my side. There is a rare humanity and wisdom about it.' - Greg Mantle, Anglia Polytechnic University, Chelmsford

'This is at times not an easy book to read, but it deals in a profound and comprehensive fashion with a subject which is of fundamental importance to our society. The vast bibliography helps to make this a very useful textbook.' - David Mathieson, Probation Journal

From the Publisher