Title

Contemporary penal trends: Modern or postmodern?

Abstract

The postmodern argument in the punishment literature is in its formative beginnings. The achievements in applying a postmodern framework to the study of punishment, thus far, have been speculative and empirically narrow. Consequently, a question that remains is 'do postmodern or modern conceptions capture the form and function of contemporary penality'? The current study addresses this question by exploring contemporary penality as it exists for those working in the penal system. Three salient trends are identified, penality as a balancing act, corporate penality, and offender subsidization of penality. A modern and postmodern interpretation are considered in the analysis of these trends. It is concluded that contemporary penality is not qualitatively different from past penality, and therefore, is best understood in the context of modernity.

Publication Date

1-1-1998

Publication Title

British Journal of Criminology

Volume

38

Issue

1

Number of Pages

106-123

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjc.a014215

Socpus ID

0032351191 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0032351191

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