- Email: [email protected]
A capacity to punish: The ecology of crime and punishment
630
CURRENT
PUBLICATIONS
A Capacity to Punish: The Ecology of Crime and Punishment by Henry N. Pontell.
Indiana University Press (Tenth and Morton Streets, Bloomington, Indiana 47405). 1984, 139 pp., hardcover-$17.50. Much recent work in criminology has been devoted to investigating whether certain and/or severe punishment deters crime. A Capacity to Punish addresses a more important question: Is the United States criminal justice system capable of making punishment as much of a deterrent as advocates of deterrance would like? Pontell claims that it is not; that the criminal justice system currently has a “limited capacity to punish.” He argues that we typically rely on the criminal justice system to do more than it is capable of doing. New laws and harsher punishments have increased the size of the system, but have failed to solve the “crime problem”; crime rates have continued to rise. Public pressure and political strategies to control crime through the increased use of punishment have increased court caseloads and caused severe overcrowding in U.S. prisons. This overloading of the criminal justice system has only diminished its effectiveness in controlling crime. A Capacity to Punish asserts that our legal system was never designed to take on the entire task of social control. The book attempts to demonstrate that increased government expenditures that aim at criminal deterrence are “futile,” given the social conditions that breed crime. The introduction to this volume reviews briefly the evolution of penological goals in the United States from reformation of the criminal to retribution (“just deserts”), incapacitation (mere detention), and deterrence (curtailing crime through the fear of punishment), with its requisite of swift, certain, and severe punishment. While the concept of deterrence may make good logical sense, in theory, Pontell argues that it is problematic when applied to the realities of crime and criminal justice. Pontell provides three significant assumptions that challenge the capacity of deterrence to control crime. These assumptions are that (1) crime is more a function of di-
ABSTRACTS
verse social-psychological and social-structural phenomena than it is of legal sanctions; (2) crime levels affect criminal justice practices just as much, if not more. than such practices affect levels of crime; and (3) punishment is most likely to be effective in deterring crime when it is needed least-where crime rates are already low. In his discussion of these assumptions. Pontell points out that social-psychological. group, subcultural, and societal factors generate both reported and actual levels of crime. He also notes that research findings of negative relationships between crime rates and certainty of punishment may be due just as much to the overloading of the criminal justice system as to a deterrent effect, since overloading tends to reduce the certainty, celerity, and severity of punishment. Low crime rates allow the system to be more punitive; where crime rates are high, the legal system becomes clogged and is not able to implement the conditions necessary for deterrence. Finally, the implications of social inequality for deterrence are that the threat of punishment has less influence on those groups most prone to crime, i.e., on the poor. In other words, Pontell asks, is it possible to achieve deterrence in an unjust society? This volume addresses such questions in eight chapters, which explore deterrence as a means of crime control; review studies of criminal deterrence; suggest and elaborate on a system capacity model of criminal justice; and present an empirical analysis that documents the capacity phenomenon. The concluding chapter explores the implications of the aggregate relationships between crime, demography, criminal justice resources, court procedures, and final criminal sanctioning. Thirteen figures, thirteen tables, seven appendices, a selected bibliography, and an index are included. Reform and Punishment: Essays on Criminal Sentencing edited by Michael Tonry and
Franklin E. Zimring. University of Chicago Press (5801 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637). 1983. 210 pp., hardcover-$25.00.
CURRENT
PUBLICATIONS
A Capacity to Punish: The Ecology of Crime and Punishment by Henry N. Pontell.
Indiana University Press (Tenth and Morton Streets, Bloomington, Indiana 47405). 1984, 139 pp., hardcover-$17.50. Much recent work in criminology has been devoted to investigating whether certain and/or severe punishment deters crime. A Capacity to Punish addresses a more important question: Is the United States criminal justice system capable of making punishment as much of a deterrent as advocates of deterrance would like? Pontell claims that it is not; that the criminal justice system currently has a “limited capacity to punish.” He argues that we typically rely on the criminal justice system to do more than it is capable of doing. New laws and harsher punishments have increased the size of the system, but have failed to solve the “crime problem”; crime rates have continued to rise. Public pressure and political strategies to control crime through the increased use of punishment have increased court caseloads and caused severe overcrowding in U.S. prisons. This overloading of the criminal justice system has only diminished its effectiveness in controlling crime. A Capacity to Punish asserts that our legal system was never designed to take on the entire task of social control. The book attempts to demonstrate that increased government expenditures that aim at criminal deterrence are “futile,” given the social conditions that breed crime. The introduction to this volume reviews briefly the evolution of penological goals in the United States from reformation of the criminal to retribution (“just deserts”), incapacitation (mere detention), and deterrence (curtailing crime through the fear of punishment), with its requisite of swift, certain, and severe punishment. While the concept of deterrence may make good logical sense, in theory, Pontell argues that it is problematic when applied to the realities of crime and criminal justice. Pontell provides three significant assumptions that challenge the capacity of deterrence to control crime. These assumptions are that (1) crime is more a function of di-
ABSTRACTS
verse social-psychological and social-structural phenomena than it is of legal sanctions; (2) crime levels affect criminal justice practices just as much, if not more. than such practices affect levels of crime; and (3) punishment is most likely to be effective in deterring crime when it is needed least-where crime rates are already low. In his discussion of these assumptions. Pontell points out that social-psychological. group, subcultural, and societal factors generate both reported and actual levels of crime. He also notes that research findings of negative relationships between crime rates and certainty of punishment may be due just as much to the overloading of the criminal justice system as to a deterrent effect, since overloading tends to reduce the certainty, celerity, and severity of punishment. Low crime rates allow the system to be more punitive; where crime rates are high, the legal system becomes clogged and is not able to implement the conditions necessary for deterrence. Finally, the implications of social inequality for deterrence are that the threat of punishment has less influence on those groups most prone to crime, i.e., on the poor. In other words, Pontell asks, is it possible to achieve deterrence in an unjust society? This volume addresses such questions in eight chapters, which explore deterrence as a means of crime control; review studies of criminal deterrence; suggest and elaborate on a system capacity model of criminal justice; and present an empirical analysis that documents the capacity phenomenon. The concluding chapter explores the implications of the aggregate relationships between crime, demography, criminal justice resources, court procedures, and final criminal sanctioning. Thirteen figures, thirteen tables, seven appendices, a selected bibliography, and an index are included. Reform and Punishment: Essays on Criminal Sentencing edited by Michael Tonry and
Franklin E. Zimring. University of Chicago Press (5801 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637). 1983. 210 pp., hardcover-$25.00.