Liberal Exclusions and the New Punitiveness (From New Punitiveness: Trends, Theories, Perspectives, P 272-289, 2005, John Pratt, David Brown, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-210217)

• NCJ Number: 210233
• Author(s): Mark Brown
• Date Published: 2005
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In order to provide clarity on contemporary penal theory, this paper attempts to reinsert the political agent and some idea of a non-essentialized political analytic into contemporary debates about penal trends, particularly the new punitiveness.

Abstract

Beginning with a simple premise, that liberalism, though sorely misunderstood, could offer an explanation for the rise in recent times of a new punitiveness in Western societies, this paper analyzes at length the character, structure, and goals of liberalism in potentially providing a detailed and informed understanding of the role of exclusion within liberal practices of government. In an attempt to argue for a strong definition of a new punitiveness, distinguishing the new from both neighboring concepts and weaker varieties of punishment, the effect has been to limit the apparent extent of this trend toward a new punitiveness in contemporary society. However, on the flip side, the forms of punishment and exclusion that may be labeled instances of a new punitiveness are radical departures from the political norms of punishment that completely reconfigure the relationship of penal subjects to the state. These characteristics make the new punitiveness revolutionary. Notes, references