NCJ Number
210226
Date Published
2005
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This paper presents an argument regarding the crisis narration in contemporary penal discourse, exemplified by forms and political ads.
Abstract
The work of penal professionals has been compared to machines and computers, due to the diminishing hands-on judgment as reflected in judicial sentencing under the U.S. Federal Sentencing guidelines. A secondary observation sees popular punitive discourse on crime as appearing to be a direct opposite of the unemotional, computer-like nature of penal systems. This paper suggests that these observations tend to overlook a vital aspect of two contrasting discourses; their mediated nature. The paper explores how an analysis of the information order could shed some light on the dynamics between the populist and the technical in contemporary penality. It begins with an analysis of forms as a distinct communicational technique characteristic followed by an analysis of political advertisement as a typified communicational style of populist speech. It is argued that the antinomy between the technical unemotional nature of administrative penality (sentencing guidelines) and the emotional populist discourse can be partly bridged by situating these practices within the contemporary field of media culture and the information order. The forms and guidelines represent a break with the perception that a decisionmaker is the main locus of power. Notes, references