Not Just Deserts: A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice

by John Braithwaite, Philip Pettit

Overview

Introducing a radical shift in the research agenda of criminology, Braithwaite and Pettit here attack currently fashionable retributivist theories of punishment, arguing that the criminal justice system is so integrated that sentencing policy has to be considered in the system-wide context. They offer a comprehensive theory of criminal justice which points the way to practical intervention in the real world of incremental reform, and argue for a republican criminal justice system where the maximizing of individual dominion is set as the goal for progressive policy change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198240563
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	01/28/1993
Series:	Clarendon Paperbacks
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	8.52(w) x 5.49(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

both at the Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University

Table of Contents

Introduction1. For a comprehensive theory2. For a consequentialist theory3. Identifying a comprehensive, consequentialist target4. The Republican idea5. Interpreting the Republican theory6. Implementing the Republican theory7. Retributivism: An inferior theory8. Retributivism: An inferior practice9. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"Deep, important....What makes this book so compelling is that normative ideals are operationalized in the context of a hard-nosed understanding of both criminal behavior and the working realities of the criminal justice system....The greatest tribute I can pay this book is that it has caused me to rethink my own position on the just deserts idea."—The Law and Politics Book Review

"Should be understandable and useful for practitioners and advanced students....The book is well organized and well written."—Perspectives on Political Science

"[The authors'] republican theory is a fertile source of new perspectives and new ideas. It should provoke and stimulate anyone who is concerned about criminal justice."—The Philosophical Review

"Well written, well argued."—Gary Blahnik, Xavier University

From the Publisher