NCJ Number
185336
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2000 Pages: 417-439
Date Published
October 2000
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This article examines the decline and resurgence of emotive and ostentatious punishment.
Abstract
The last decade has seen a growing recourse to "emotive" and "ostentatious" punishments of varying kinds, although at the same time there has been enhanced continuity of a long-established trend towards bureaucratic rationalism. This article draws on the theoretical constructs of Norbert Elias to explain the refiguring, arguing that what is taking place in the penal arena is a decivilizing interruption in various localized sites to the broader continuity of the civilizing process. The article concludes that this new configuration may lead to forms of punishing based on respect for cultures and minorities previously disrespected, and thereby strengthen interdependencies. It may create possibilities for prosecution and punishment of those whom the previous structurings of penal power had allowed to escape largely unnoticed. But, the article adds, it may also lead to new forms of brutalizing, humiliating sanctions that are no longer considered shameful in those modern societies where they already exist. Table, notes, references