Etiology/Assessment/Redress: Criminal Bodies and State Impunity

Abstract

This article develops a theoretical model for analyzing punishment across cultures, with emphasis on its utility for parsing state‐inflicted punishment. I suggest that a tripartite relationship can be observed in justice systems across cultures, and identify an inherent consistency among what a particular culture considers a social breach (etiology), the process of determining the social significance of a breach (assessment), and the array of actions deemed appropriate in response (redress). Drawing on a familiar example from mainstream news—the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal—I demonstrate how the model works, and argue that this example is especially useful for understanding punishment in the context of the state because it highlights how the state deflects criticism (and indeed punishment) by conjuring hegemonic discourse about punishment, the autonomous moral individual, and personal accountability. Americans responding to news about Abu Ghraib generally agree that terrible things happened at this U.S. military facility in Iraq. However, the language used in the media and in the courtroom to describe what crimes were committed (and therefore what punishments should be dispensed) was inherently inadequate to identify breaches—or to coalesce around redressive actions—that transcend individual bodies. [crime and punishment, culpability, individualism, the state, Abu Ghraib]