Punitive Orientation Research Articles

Modern Slavery and the Punitive–Humanitarian Complex

Abstract This paper provides a critical analysis of modern slavery (MS) policy, legislation and discourse in the United Kingdom. Challenging the suggestion that recent attempts to dilute protections and guarantees in the original MS framework represent a fundamental shift from a more humanitarian to a more punitive orientation, it argues that these two moments ought to be understood as products of a single, underlying articulation, the ‘punitive–humanitarian complex’. We first explore the context and discourse of the MS agenda, exposing an ambivalence within its core tenets, primarily manifested through the dichotomy between victims (slaves) and offenders (slavers). The paper then examines how the punitive–humanitarian complex engenders moral and affective economies and reflects on how it reveals the vulnerability of contemporary state power.

The Draft of Catherine II’s Penal Regulations in the Context of European Penitentiary Thought

This article considers the “penitentiary turn” in the ideological content of Catherine II’s penal policy, i. e. the transition from the punitive orientation of justice to the principle of rehabilitation by means of punishment. The author mostly refers to The State of the Prisons of England and Wales (1777), a fundamental work by English philanthropist and penologist John Howard and Empress Catherine II’s handwritten draft of the Penal Regulations (1787). Relying on the techniques of intellectual history, the article aims to analyse the polemical, historiographical, and legal assessments of Catherine’s legislative initiatives and review debatable issues. The consideration of the ideological content of the Penal Regulations in the context of eighteenth-century European (mainly English) penitentiary thought makes it possible to perceive it as an attempt to systematise and summarise the best practices of European countries based on the “principles of love and mercy”. The author compares Catherine’s penitentiary ideas and the basic principles of organising prison affairs promoted by John Howard. The author concludes that their basic positions are similar and were later embodied in the modern principles of the philosophy and practice of corrective punishment. However, the main concepts of penitentiary reform in Howard’s writings are characterized by a personal-psychological approach, with a pronounced focus on the moral and religious conversion of convicts in the conditions of a rehabilitating imprisonment. The project of the Russian empress is distinguished by a strictly state approach, increased attention to economic issues, and the problem of the establishment of a penitentiary service. In the era of Catherine II, Russian penal policy became systematic and elaborated, with expressed intentions of correction by punishment. The Russian penitentiary apparatus began to take on the appearance of a system with a clear centralised structure.

The penal narratives of community sentence and the role of probation: The case of the Wrocław model of community service

This article draws on Robinson, McNeill and Maruna’s argument about the adaptability of community sanctions and measures, observed through four distinctive penal narratives, in order to shed light on the regional development of community service in Wrocław, Poland. While the managerial adaptation of community sanctions is underpinned by an inter-agency cooperation to fulfil the goals of the system, the contemporary rehabilitation iteration has become a toolkit of measures predominantly phrased around risk management, the reparative discourse seeks various means to repair harm and the punitive orientation represents the turn to desert-based and populist sentencing frameworks. In this article, the first three are reflected upon along with the emerging, restorative adaptation of community sanctions. The last one is added to expand on the findings of this author’s previous research, which suggests the viability of the restorative orientation for community service in Poland. A brief discussion of how punishment, probation and restorative justice can be reconciled is followed by the introduction of Polish probation and the role of probation officers in delivering community service in Poland. Although the penal narratives are visible in the Wrocław model to different degrees and in various combinations, more research is required to evaluate the viability of a progressive orientation to punishment during a gradual optimisation of community orders.

Public Support for Solitary Confinement: A Randomized Experiment of Belief Updating and Confirmation Bias

ABSTRACT This randomized control experiment investigates whether providing educational information about solitary confinement (SC) cause respondents to update their beliefs about the practice. It also examines whether prior views about punishment moderate the influence of the message content on changes in level of support for SC. Study participants were recruited from Amazon’s MTurk workplace to complete an on-line survey about their level of punitive orientation and support for SC. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions that provided differing messages about SC through brief, educational videos. Study results suggest participants who received information that SC is necessary for institutional order increased their support for the practice at post-test, while those who viewed information that SC is harmful to its inhabitants decreased their support for its use. This study did not find evidence that punitive orientation influenced the impact of the message received on changes in attitude toward SC.

ПРАВОВА РЕГЛАМЕНТАЦІЯ ЗЛОЧИНІВ ПРОТИ ОСНОВ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ (ДЕРЖАВИ) ТА ПОКАРАНЬ ЗА ЇХНЄ ВЧИНЕННЯ В ПЕРШІ РОКИ РАДЯНСЬКОЇ ВЛАДИ

Метою статті є проведення історико-правового аналізу порядку правового регулювання злочинів та покарань проти основ національної безпеки (держави) з моменту становлення радянської влади і в перші роки розвитку радянської правової системи.

Polícia, PCC e dispositivo letal em São Paulo

No contexto democrático brasileiro contemporâneo, a equação entre eficiência policial e amplo respeito aos direitos civis resulta num paradoxo: o uso continuamente abusivo, excessivo e seletivo da força pelas polícias, contribui decisivamente à manutenção de índices elevados de homicídios dolosos. Além dos altos índices de letalidade policial verificados nas últimas décadas, a orientação punitivista das políticas de controle do crime são atestadas também pelo cenário de encarceramento em massa, que expõem os detentos a situações degradantes de aprisionamento. Inserido neste contexto, a emergência do Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) no início da década de 1990 e sua atuação nas prisões paulistas e em comunidades periféricas, é decisiva para compreender a regulação do uso da força pelo Estado e a influência da organização criminal na gestão dos conflitos violentos do “mundo do crime”. Diante dessa conjuntura, a pesquisa buscou problematizar o uso da força pelas agências policiais e o pelo PCC em São Paulo, a fim de discutir a tendência de militarização das forças policiais, bem como as implicações das relações entre agências estatais e criminais na determinação de políticas de segurança.

Judges’ Perceptions of Juvenile Sexual Offending: Implications for Educative Preparation, Practice and Policy

Juveniles that commit sexual offenses tend to be a misunderstood population. Even professionals working in the juvenile justice system can hold misconceptions about these youth that interfere with implementing appropriate treatment and supervision services. Judges play a particularly powerful role in guiding the trajectory of intervention in these cases, but little is known about their understanding of this challenging population. To that end, the present study surveyed judges and a public reference sample to better understand current judicial perceptions of juvenile sexual offending. Results suggest that there are substantial misperceptions across participants surrounding juvenile sexual offending and offenders; however, judicial officers held more accurate information and less punitive orientations in comparison to the reference sample even when overestimating actual offending and recidivism rates. Details regarding these findings are presented along with subsequent recommendations for judicial education and preparation for working cases involving juveniles that have committed sexual offenses.

Public state ownership within varieties of capitalism: regulatory foundations for welfare and freedom

In this paper I argue public state ownership - the extent the public 'owns' the state through mechanisms of inclusivity and exclusivity in governing - can help explain divergent public policy and human development outcomes across varieties of capitalist state. An upshot is to question the neutralist premise of the varieties of capitalism (VOC) literature that different systems are equally effective. I maintain more attention ought to be paid to background factors that explain how public sector traditions that are more responsive to collective interests in human development-protective institutions generate conditions for policy coherence. I argue modalities of human development - or human economy - generate constraints on governing which entail that human development-sensitive institutions and policies are more effective. Examining contemporary punitive welfare-to-work regimes, I argue variation in public state ownership explains a more directly punitive orientation in Britain, and a more contained and 'educative' design and implementation, in Denmark.

Criminological Prevention as a Priority Task of Juvenile Justice

The author examines the establishment of juvenile justice in Russia in connection with the unsolved problem of crimes committed by or against minors. The paper contains the analysis of the concepts «crime prevention», «criminological prevention», «early prevention» and presents the authors definitions of them. The author also studies the work of specially authorized bodies involved in early prevention, analyses the terms «juvenile justice», «juvenile technologies», offers their classification and describes juvenile technologies. It is argued that the actual implementation of juvenile justice in the Russian Federation considerably depends on the legislative basis that is yet to be created. The author presents the principles of juvenile justice (socialization of a minor, competence in the process of prevention, an individual approach to work with minors, support for the families, scientific validity, transparency, accountability of specially authorized agencies for their actions) used for the purposes of criminological prevention. It is necessary to deal with the following challenges in order to reform the preventative work of social protection and other agencies: 1) personnel, material and financial support; 2) systematization of normative legal acts on the preventative measures for juvenile crime and the protection of the rights of minors; 3) the development of modern methods for the actual reduction of juvenile crime, etc. This research allowed the author to showcase the pre-requisites for the establishment of a punitive system of juvenile justice in Russia. In order to change this situation and to develop the potential of juvenile justice in Russia, it is necessary to overcome the existing confrontation of the state and the society, to eliminate the stereotype of the punitive orientation of social workers activities, to cooperate with the community. The author stresses that it is important to use scientific tools to change the orientation of the work of specially authorized agencies from a dominantly punitive attitude to an understanding one, which agrees with the trends in criminological prevention.

Entre o afeto e a sanção: uma crítica à abordagem punitiva da alienação parental

Resumo Este artigo pretende, a par de desenvolver um pensamento crítico em relação ao conceito e à abordagem da alienação parental no Brasil, demonstrar que o Acompanhamento Terapêutico (“AT”), atendimento psicológico clínico que atua no campo social do indivíduo, pode auxiliar na solução de questões complexas que envolvem as famílias em situação de elevada litigiosidade. Este trabalho reúne os saberes do Direito e da Psicanálise numa abordagem interdisciplinar que visa melhor atender às demandas da família e do Judiciário. Trata-se, em um primeiro momento, de estudo crítico, à luz do diálogo entre o Direito e a Psicanálise, da legislação brasileira atual e da maneira como vem sendo aplicada. Em um segundo momento, o trabalho assume um caráter normativo, propositivo, ao sugerir, independentemente de reforma legislativa, uma mudança profunda de postura do Judiciário diante da alienação parental. Este artigo propõe que o acompanhamento psicológico seja proporcionado a toda a família por meio do AT, e que o Acompanhante Terapêutico facilite a efetivação das visitas. A melhor interpretação da Lei de Alienação Parental rejeita a abordagem repressiva do fenômeno e recomenda uma abordagem relacional, tal como preconiza a Psicanálise.

Correctional Officer Risk Perceptions and Professional Orientations: Examining Linkages Between the Two

Prisons managing treatment programs for incarcerated offenders require correctional officers to share favorable dispositions toward prisoners and rehabilitation if they are to function effectively. How officers judge prisoners, rehabilitative practices, and the broader goals of corrections can influence treatment efficiency, as well as offender conduct. For these reasons, it becomes paramount to investigate the professional orientations of corrections officers and the factors related to them. Using the protection motivation theory as a guiding theoretical framework, the present study collected questionnaire data from South Carolina maximum security correctional officers ( N = 649) to determine whether their risk perceptions of workplace harm shared statistically significant relationships with the counseling roles, concern for corruption of authority, social distance, and punitive orientations. Linear regression estimations found that heightened officer risk perceptions shared significant relationships with each orientation. Findings may be useful for global correctional administrators in need of officers supportive of rehabilitative practices.

The Neoliberal Baseline? A Community-Based Exploration of Beliefs about Poverty and Social Policy

ABSTRACTDrawing on data from community-based research in the United States, this article addresses three key elements of poverty governance identified by scholars critical of neoliberal policy approaches: market-based logic, individualism, and punitive orientation. Comparing low-income residents of an economically challenged community with local middle-class professionals who work with children and families, the analysis documents that both groups endorse more egalitarian approaches, but middle-class professionals were notably more likely to combine that endorsement with a baseline of neoliberal elements. The implications of these beliefs are considered, in relation to the need for resisting the hegemony of neoliberal approaches to poverty policy.

Maneuvering with Crime. An Empirical Reconstruction of “Populist” Stances on Youth Crime in German Parliamentary Debates

Recent years have seen a wide discussion of populism in penal policy, which is internationally regarded as a strong drive for establishing punitive tendencies. Generally, “penal populism” is characterized by an extensive consensus across the most influential political parties, a punitive orientation, and the dismissal of scientific or professional expertise. Recent penal policy therefore appears to be a relatively unified practice strongly oriented toward punitive measures that primarily address the public and its perceived need for protection. Because analyses of Anglophone countries are predominant in this discussion, we contrast them with a reconstruction of debates on youth crime in German parliaments from 1970 to 2012. They exhibit a wide variety of populist articulations. Although they imply a strong punitive bias, they also encompass a very heterogeneous rhetoric of penal policy. In conclusion, we argue that penal populism can (and should) be described as a tactical practice, i.e., as political maneuvering employed to negotiate the prospects of punitive and other styles of politics.

Blood In, Buyout: A Property & Economic Approach to Street Gangs

This article offers a fresh analysis of and solution to problems modern American street gangs present. Common wisdom dictates that, since they commit crimes, gangs should be understood and combatted through criminal sanctions. Popular interventions, like gang injunctions, expand that punitive orientation into civil strategies. But, gang criminality is merely a manifestation of a broader property-based disease. Therefore, those strategies will be ineffective and inefficient, as evidenced by the continuing rise in gang membership across the United States. The consensus in gang research is that gangs are not crime syndicates; they are capitalist social institutions creating and operating in alternative markets. Violence and criminality are secondary or tertiary facets of gangs, resulting from the inaccessibility of mainstream markets. Integrating these findings into a unique synthesis of disparate threads of property theory—from Charles A. Reich’s The New Property and Margaret Jane Radin’s Property and Personhood to Cheryl I. Harris’ Whiteness as Property—it is clear that gangs’ primary purpose is to pursue the forms of property central to human identity. That insight frees anti-gang strategies from the strictures imposed by criminal law, but it also complicates the equation by revealing social justice considerations not normally associated with gangs. From that foundation, this article presents a novel idea: Gangs are recreating a traditional market-based property system, so the approach to the problems associated with them should be market-inspired. In the market, actors are paid to induce desired behavior. Therefore, local governments should compensate gang members for nonparticipation in legal (but undesirable) gang activity. The article tests this proposal using Guido Calabresi and A. Douglas Melamed’s framework for allocating and protecting entitlements advanced in Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral. That analysis shows that the so-called “paid injunction” is a more effective and efficient approach to curbing the non-criminal activities of gangs that simultaneously advances the social justice concerns revealed by the property law analysis.

Exploring public support for suspended sentences in the Netherlands

Using data from a representative sample of the Dutch population ( n = 656), we examined to what extent confidence in the criminal justice system, punitive penal attitudes and political orientation relate to public support for suspended sentences. Mediation and moderation analyses were done to further explore the dynamics behind public support for suspended sentences. Results showed that confidence in the criminal justice system, punitive penal attitudes and political orientation were related to public support for suspended sentences. In addition, support was found for our mediation and moderation hypothesis. In our conclusion we illustrate the importance of examining these factors in determining public support for suspended sentences.

Support for community policing in India and the US: an exploratory study among college students

Purpose – While there is a growing body of studies on the people's views of community policing, there have been a very few cross-national studies. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast students’ views on community policing from India and the USA. Design/methodology/approach – The data were from a survey from a total of 434 Indian and 484 US college students. Findings – Punitive orientation had a significant effect on attitudes toward community policing, but was related to an increase in the support in India and reduction of support in the USA. Among the Indian respondents, concern for crime and support for aggressive policing had positive associations with support for community policing, and police involvement in the community had a negative association. Among the US respondents, age, educational level, and perceptions of police effectiveness had positive associations with support for community policing, and holding a punitive orientation had a negative association. Originality/value – This study represents the attempt to examine Indian perceptions of community policing empirically. Uncovering factors that affect public support for community policing can provide useful references for police administrators to develop policies and practices that encourage more active community involvement in crime control.

Correlates of Support for Community-Police Partnerships in Policing among Nigerian and US College Students

While there is a growing body of research on people’s views of community policing, there have been a very few cross-national studies, especially concerning nonwestern countries. In order to compare and contrast students’ views on community policing partnerships, 274 Nigerian and 484 U.S. college students were surveyed. Ordinary least squares regression analysis of the data revealed that the majority of respondents supported a partnership between the community and the police, with the Nigerian students reporting slightly higher levels of support than their U.S. counterparts. Both attachment to conventional society and general confidence in the police were positively related to students’ support for community policing partnerships in both nations. A belief that the police should be civil, a perception that the police were effective, and support for community oversight of the police were significant predictors of support for community policing partnerships among the U.S. students but not the Nigerian students. A perception that crime was a problem, a view that the public should support the police, and academic level had nonsignificant associations with community policing partnership support for both groups of students. Gender had a significant relationship with support for community policing partnerships among the Nigerian students (men were higher in their support), while age had a positive association among the U.S. students. Punitive orientation had a significant negative association with attitudes toward community policing among the U.S. students but was not a significant predictor among the Nigerian students.

A Systematic Observational Study of a Juvenile Drug Court Judge

ABSTRACTThe shift of the juvenile justice system from its initial rehabilitative ideal toward a more punitive orientation highlights the need to systematically document key elements of the juvenile drug court model. In particular, it is important to clearly document the role of the juvenile court judge because he or she is considered vital to this program model. The current study used participant observation as well as confidential questionnaires on which youth shared their perceptions of the judge. Findings show the judge‐participant interactions typically were brief, varied by the participants' level of compliance with the program, and that sanctions were given twice as often as rewards. Youth perceived the judge to be fair, respectful, and concerned about their lives. Discussion focuses on the significant opportunity that juvenile drug court judges have for positively influencing the lives of drug‐involved youth.

Drug Courts—Just the Beginning: Getting Other Areas of Public Policy in Sync

Although an offender can complete a drug court program in the United States, have his/her charges dismissed or reduced (or some other amelioration of the criminal justice system penalty that would otherwise have been applied), become drug free, obtain a job, regain custody of his/her children, become a tax-paying, law-abiding citizen, etc., he/she will still be deprived of basic rights afforded to other U.S. citizens because other sectors of public policy still approach addiction with a punitive orientation. Thus, despite the fact that an offender may have made a substantial beginning in recovery, other parts of the system make no accommodation for his/her recovery efforts in, for example, their denial of (a) welfare benefits to persons charged/convicted of drug offenses; (b) educational loans or other benefits to persons charged/convicted of drug offenses; (c) public housing to persons charged/convicted of drug offenses; and (d) voting rights to persons with felony convictions. In addition, deportation proceedings can be instituted—even for persons with a legal immigration status—based upon a charge or conviction for a drug offense.Without changes in other key areas of public policy, the goals and benefits designed to be achieved by the criminal justice system through drug court programs can be thwarted in both the short and long term by the failure of a shift in thinking in other key public sector areas that are critical to meaningfully reintegrating substance-addicted offenders into the mainstream of the community. Hopefully, policy-makers will begin to address this critical need.

The Warren Court, Criminal Procedure Reform, and Retributive Punishment

The Warren Court's legacy in criminal justice is largely one of increasing constitutional regulation of criminal procedure rather than substantive criminal law or punishment. In this symposium contribution, Professor Brown argues that, more than three decades after Warren's resignation, the effect of that effort to improve overall criminal justice is uncertain at best. In an example of unintended consequences, that reform effort bears indirect responsibility for shifting criminal justice toward its current, harshly punitive orientation. Perversely, the Warren Cour's criminal procedure decisions helped prompt a popular-political response that moved criminal justice from its long-standing commitment to rehabilitation toward the current focus on deterrence, incapacitation and retributivism through the mechanism of severe sentencing policies. Normative gains the criminal justice system saw through procedural advances such as right to counsel have been offset by policy shifts in substantive criminal law and punishment that the Warren Court left to the political branches.