Control Without Punishment: Understanding Coercion
Jonathan Simon & Richard Sparks, eds., The Sage Handbook of Punishment and Society, pp. 463-491, Sage Publications, 2012
Posted: 29 Nov 2012
Date Written: 2012
Abstract
Studying the methods of coercion adopted in the name of counter-terrorism is a challenge for the field of crime and punishment, precisely because it forces us to consider the meaning and limits of penality. If punishment is to be understood as a sanction imposed for breaches of the criminal law, then many of the coercive practices which are deployed in the ‘war on terror’ cannot be described as punishment. This paper explores the implications of terrorism and the recent global response - otherwise known as the ‘war on terror’ - for punishment and the field of criminal justice. It argues that various domestic and international pressures have led to a significant shift away from the punishment model in the exercise of State coercion and has, in the most extreme cases, led to the use and legitimation of State-sponsored violence.
Keywords: Punishment, Human rights, Security, War on Terror
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