Punishment and Prisons: Power and the Carceral State

ISBN: 076196004X

Author: Sim, Joe

Condition: New

Product DescriptionJoe Sim traces the development of penal strategy over the past three decades, through a critical analysis of the relationship between penal policy and state power. Exploring the contested histories of punishment that are prominent in criminology, and its development in penal policy, the book analyzes four key dimensions of modern penal trends continuity and discontinuity in penal policy and practice, reform and rehabilitation, contesting penal power, and abolitionism. Articulate, innovative, and theoretically informed, Punishment and Prisons offers a critical overview of contemporary penal politics that will prove a compelling addition to the criminological library.ReviewOverall, the book is an impressive and provocative achievement. A brief summary cannot do justice to the wealth of detail and subtlety of argument contained in the pages. Among the many important themes explored in the book perhaps the most significant is the enduring presence of the prison within the political landscape of the last three decades. Indeed, one of the major strengths of the book is the way each of the substantive chapters has a nuanced grasp of the ideological struggles surrounding crime and punishment within both Conservative and New Labour administrations.Theoretical Criminology