Abolishing Prisons (From Criminal Justice in America: Theory, Practice, and Policy, P 267-274, 1996, Barry W Hancock and Paul M Sharp, eds. -- See NCJ-160206)

• NCJ Number: 160223
• Author(s): H E Pepinsky
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Prentice-Hall, Inc
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This chapter contrasts "confrontation" and "punishment" as means of changing the behavior of criminals.

Abstract

Offenders should be confronted rather than punished. Confrontation means focusing offenders' attention on what they have done and using "attentive love" to help them modify their behavior to serve their own self-interest. Punishment involves the infliction of pain by an authority who is not subject to evaluation and punishment. Punishment teaches those who are punished that the infliction of pain is the way to control others for one's own ends. The abused becomes the abuser. Crime control means more than doing things to offenders who get caught and convicted. Crime must be confronted in its entirety by helping children and adults to confront their destructive and negative behaviors in an atmosphere of attentive love. Penal abolitionists aspire to heal social wounds and provide more attentive love where violence occurs. Victim Offender Reconciliation Programs are a case in point. In these programs victims are given an opportunity to vent their anger and fear. Offenders are given a chance to explain themselves. Often the parties get past the anger and fear to work out terms of accommodation through which the offender is allowed in some measure to make amends. Discussion questions and suggested student applications of the chapter material