Questioning Punishment

<p>This book questions punishment as concept, social phenomenon and contemporary practice. It unpacks punishment’s nature and the assumptions that underpin it, examines its targets, objectives and implications, locates punishment and punitivity within their social contexts, and aims to unsettle the idea that there is something common-sensical, necessary and unavoidable about punitive justice.</p><p><i>Questioning Punishment </i>develops its argument through an innovative structure organised around five central questions: <b><i>what </i></b>punishment is; <b><i>who </i></b>punishment’s targets and subjects are; <b><i>how </i></b>punishment is perpetuated and experienced; <b><i>when </i></b>and<i> <b>where</b> </i>punishment unfolds and <b><i>why</i></b> we punish. It ends by considering the implications of this enquiry to understandings of punishment and broader pursuits of justice.</p><p>This book is essential reading for all those engaged with the sociology of punishment and prisons, criminal justice and theoretical criminology.</p>