The Changing Purposes of Criminal Punishment: A Retrospective on the past Century and Some Thoughts about the Next

Discussions of the textbook purposes of criminal punishment - retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation - sometimes seem too abstract to matter. This essay, however, examines two unmistakably consequential shifts in the stated objectives of punishment. It describes America's t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The University of Chicago law review 2003, Vol.70 (1), p.1-22
Main Author: Alschuler, Albert W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
20th century
Blame
Criminal justice
Criminal law
Criminal punishment
Criminal sentences
Criminal sentencing
Criminals
Determinism
Deterrence
Free will
Jurisprudence
Law schools
Penology
Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation of criminals
Sentenced offenders
Sentencing guidelines
Society
Sociology
Trends
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Summary:Discussions of the textbook purposes of criminal punishment - retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation - sometimes seem too abstract to matter. This essay, however, examines two unmistakably consequential shifts in the stated objectives of punishment. It describes America's turn to rehabilitative goals early in the twentieth century, the persistence of these goals through most of the century, and the demise of rehabilitation and emergence of a new penology in the century's final quarter. It contends that both American revolutions in penal objectives were mistaken. Retribution, the purpose of punishment most disparaged from the beginning of the century through the end, merits recognition as the criminal law's central objective.
ISSN:0041-9494
1939-859X
DOI:10.2307/1600541