Punishment and Crime: The Limits of Punitive Crime Control

This book summarizes and synthesizes a vast body of research on the effects of legal punishment and criminal behavior. Covering studies conducted between 1967 and 2015, Punishment and Crime evaluates the assertion that legal punishment reduces crime by investigating the impacts, both positive and negative, of legal punishment on criminal behavior, with emphasis on the effects of punitive crime control policies via the mechanisms of deterrence and incapacitation.

Brion Sever and Gary Kleck, author of the renowned Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America, present a literature review on legal punishment in the United States that is unparalleled in depth and scope. This text is a must-read for students, researchers, and policymakers concerned with the fields of corrections and crime prevention.

Gary Kleck is David J. Bordua Professor Emeritus at Florida State University. He earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the University of Illinois and a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Illinois. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America, which won the 1991 Michael J. Hindelang Award of the American Society of Criminology.

Brion Sever is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice at Florida Gulf Coast University. Previously, he taught for sixteen years at Monmouth University. He earned a Ph.D. in Criminology from Florida State University. He has published research in over a dozen journals, including Criminology, Police Quarterly, and the Journal of Criminal Justice Education.