Philosophical Issues Related to Prison Reform (From Are Prisons Any Better? Twenty Years of Correctional Reform, P 77-93, 1990, John W Murphy and Jack E Dison, eds. -- See NCJ-124361)

• NCJ Number: 124366
• Author(s): A Mickunas
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This paper discusses the philosophical issues underlying the rationales for imprisonment and the changes that have recently occurred in U.S. prison systems.

Abstract

Analyses focus on shifts in offender treatment, the philosophical justifications for these developments, inmate rights, and the ontologies underlying all changes. The focus of the ontologies pertains to the issues of determinism, freedom and responsibility, and the nature of the offender. These concepts are at the core of the debates on the meaning of punishment. Punishment might mean rehabilitation or retribution. Each rationale includes an ontology or fundamental description of the person being punished, including culpability. The issue of unfair punishments is based in the unequal participation of citizens in the decisions of justice and law. Laws and their attached punishments tend to favor those able to influence the formation of statutes. Most often such persons are the economically and politically powerful. 12 references.