Prison on Trial: A Critical Assessment

Mathiesen, Thomas

ISBN 10: 0803982259 / ISBN 13: 9780803982253

Published by SAGE Publications Ltd (London), 1990

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned.

Seller Inventory # wbs3769676597

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Prison on Trial: A Critical Assessment
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd (London)
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803982259
• ISBN 13: 9780803982253
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 240.4 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The last decade has seen the centrality of the prison within Western systems of criminal justice confirmed. Despite arguments raised in favour of decarceration and alternatives to custody, prison populations in Western Europe and North America have generally continued to rise. The increased reliance on imprisonment has been demonstrated both by new programmes of prison building and by political commitment to the prison, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. This development raises more forcefully than ever the question of the defensibility of prison. Does prison in fact have a defence as a major type of punishment and sanction in modern society?

This is the core question approached in Prison on Trial. This international assessment takes stock of prison as a sanction and fully discusses the evidence and material which now exists concerning rehabilitation, general deterrence, incapacitation and individual deterrence and justice. Mathiesen concludes that prison finds no defence in any of them.

Since prison is indefensible as it stands and is only maintained because of its ideological functions, the author promotes the ideal that prison will eventually be abolished. However a major reduction in the prison population can only be brought about by a shift in our thinking about imprisonment and justice in general. Thomas Mathiesen's arguments will be of interest not only to criminologists and others involved in the study and practice of the criminal justice system but also to the wider market within social and public policy.