Beth A. Berkowitz
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195179194
- eISBN:
- 9780199784509
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195179196.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Execution and Invention: Death Penalty Discourse in Early Rabbinic and Christian Cultures argues that ancient rabbis and Christians used death penalty discourse to invent themselves as ...
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Execution and Invention: Death Penalty Discourse in Early Rabbinic and Christian Cultures argues that ancient rabbis and Christians used death penalty discourse to invent themselves as figures of authority. This approach runs counter to much previous scholarship on the subject, which claims that ancient Jews opposed the death penalty and would have abolished it if not for its presence in the Bible. The book explores this scholarship and shows it to have been fueled by modern anti-Semitism, polemics with the the Jewish Enlightenment’s inheritance of anti-rabbinism, as well as controversy in the United States over capital punishment and its abolition. The book moves beyond this “humanitarianism” approach, inviting us instead to see the problem of building and maintaining authority as the crux around which ancient death penalty discourse developed. Drawing on ritual theory, postcolonial theory, and scholarship on criminal execution in other historical contexts, Execution and Invention asks new questions of the ancient texts: How and why do ancient western religions talk about killing criminals? What are the social consequences of this kind of violent talk? What kind of authority is imagined by these texts, and What strategies do the texts use to make this authority seem compelling? Combining the contemporary theory with classical source critical approaches, the book closely reads a variety of ancient texts describing criminal executions. It newly interprets these texts, showing that their descriptions of violent deaths have a complex social function. In the process, the book spins out the social implications of capital punishment and overturns enduring stereotypes of Judaism and Christianity.Less
Execution and Invention: Death Penalty Discourse in Early Rabbinic and Christian Cultures argues that ancient rabbis and Christians used death penalty discourse to invent themselves as figures of authority. This approach runs counter to much previous scholarship on the subject, which claims that ancient Jews opposed the death penalty and would have abolished it if not for its presence in the Bible. The book explores this scholarship and shows it to have been fueled by modern anti-Semitism, polemics with the the Jewish Enlightenment’s inheritance of anti-rabbinism, as well as controversy in the United States over capital punishment and its abolition. The book moves beyond this “humanitarianism” approach, inviting us instead to see the problem of building and maintaining authority as the crux around which ancient death penalty discourse developed. Drawing on ritual theory, postcolonial theory, and scholarship on criminal execution in other historical contexts, Execution and Invention asks new questions of the ancient texts: How and why do ancient western religions talk about killing criminals? What are the social consequences of this kind of violent talk? What kind of authority is imagined by these texts, and What strategies do the texts use to make this authority seem compelling? Combining the contemporary theory with classical source critical approaches, the book closely reads a variety of ancient texts describing criminal executions. It newly interprets these texts, showing that their descriptions of violent deaths have a complex social function. In the process, the book spins out the social implications of capital punishment and overturns enduring stereotypes of Judaism and Christianity.
Elizabeth Wicks
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199547395
- eISBN:
- 9780191594373
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547395.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration, Medical Law
The right to life is a core human right which has not yet received the detailed legal analysis that it requires. This book provides detailed, critical analysis of the controversial human right to ...
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The right to life is a core human right which has not yet received the detailed legal analysis that it requires. This book provides detailed, critical analysis of the controversial human right to life and, in particular, assesses the weight of conflicting interests which could and/or should serve to override the right. This contemporary study of the right to life focuses on the legal, as well as ethical, issues raised by the value of life in modern day society. It seeks to analyse the development, meaning and value of the fundamental human right to life in the context of its conflicts with other competing interests. The book begins with an overview of the right to life in which the concept of life itself is first analysed, before both the right and its legal protection and enforcement are subjected to historical, philosophical and comparative analysis. The remainder of the book identifies, and assesses the merits of, various competing interests. These comprise armed conflict; prevention of crime; rights of others; autonomy; quality of life; and finite resources. The right to life is unusual in having potential application to so many of today’s ethically controversial questions. This new work investigates specific topics of current political, legal and ethical concern such as the right to life during international conflicts, the role of lethal force in law enforcement, the death penalty, the right to life of a foetus in the context of legalized abortion, and the significance of quality of life and autonomy issues in respect of euthanasia and assisted suicide.Less
The right to life is a core human right which has not yet received the detailed legal analysis that it requires. This book provides detailed, critical analysis of the controversial human right to life and, in particular, assesses the weight of conflicting interests which could and/or should serve to override the right. This contemporary study of the right to life focuses on the legal, as well as ethical, issues raised by the value of life in modern day society. It seeks to analyse the development, meaning and value of the fundamental human right to life in the context of its conflicts with other competing interests. The book begins with an overview of the right to life in which the concept of life itself is first analysed, before both the right and its legal protection and enforcement are subjected to historical, philosophical and comparative analysis. The remainder of the book identifies, and assesses the merits of, various competing interests. These comprise armed conflict; prevention of crime; rights of others; autonomy; quality of life; and finite resources. The right to life is unusual in having potential application to so many of today’s ethically controversial questions. This new work investigates specific topics of current political, legal and ethical concern such as the right to life during international conflicts, the role of lethal force in law enforcement, the death penalty, the right to life of a foetus in the context of legalized abortion, and the significance of quality of life and autonomy issues in respect of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Sarah Holden and Brian Reid
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199549108
- eISBN:
- 9780191720734
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199549108.003.0005
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Pensions and Pension Management
With the rising importance of individual retirement accounts (IRAs), which now total one-quarter of US retirement assets, public policy has sharpened its focus on how individuals manage those ...
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With the rising importance of individual retirement accounts (IRAs), which now total one-quarter of US retirement assets, public policy has sharpened its focus on how individuals manage those accumulations through work and retirement years. Individuals are required to take distributions from their IRAs after age seventy-and-a-half, while distributions taken prior to age fifty-nine-and-a-half generally incur a ten percent penalty. Previous research has found that IRA owners rarely tapped these assets prior to retirement. This chapter updates results and shows that these patterns continue. Several factors influence the probability of withdrawal (prior to sevent-and-a-half): being younger than sixty lowers the probability of a withdrawal, but being retired, in poor health, or having a home mortgage increases the likelihood of withdrawal.Less
With the rising importance of individual retirement accounts (IRAs), which now total one-quarter of US retirement assets, public policy has sharpened its focus on how individuals manage those accumulations through work and retirement years. Individuals are required to take distributions from their IRAs after age seventy-and-a-half, while distributions taken prior to age fifty-nine-and-a-half generally incur a ten percent penalty. Previous research has found that IRA owners rarely tapped these assets prior to retirement. This chapter updates results and shows that these patterns continue. Several factors influence the probability of withdrawal (prior to sevent-and-a-half): being younger than sixty lowers the probability of a withdrawal, but being retired, in poor health, or having a home mortgage increases the likelihood of withdrawal.
Margaret Gilbert
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199274956
- eISBN:
- 9780191603976
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199274959.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
The book’s argument is summarized and its conclusions are brought to hear on two classic situations of crisis: Socrates awaiting the death penalty in prison, and Antigone in her conflict with the ...
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The book’s argument is summarized and its conclusions are brought to hear on two classic situations of crisis: Socrates awaiting the death penalty in prison, and Antigone in her conflict with the ruler of her political society, Creon. Emphasis is given to the point that though obligations of joint commitment are absolute in the sense discussed, and supersede one’s personal inclinations and self-interest as such, it is possible for other considerations to ‘trump’ them. Antigone believed there were such considerations in her case; Socrates seems not to have thought so. A number of avenues for further empirical investigation and moral inquiry are noted.Less
The book’s argument is summarized and its conclusions are brought to hear on two classic situations of crisis: Socrates awaiting the death penalty in prison, and Antigone in her conflict with the ruler of her political society, Creon. Emphasis is given to the point that though obligations of joint commitment are absolute in the sense discussed, and supersede one’s personal inclinations and self-interest as such, it is possible for other considerations to ‘trump’ them. Antigone believed there were such considerations in her case; Socrates seems not to have thought so. A number of avenues for further empirical investigation and moral inquiry are noted.
Elizabeth Beck, Sarah Britto, and Arlene Andrews
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195179415
- eISBN:
- 9780199893799
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179415.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families, Crime and Justice
Little is known about the effects of having a loved one on death row, and alternative visions of punishment that offer the possibility for forgiveness and recovery are also underrepresented in our ...
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Little is known about the effects of having a loved one on death row, and alternative visions of punishment that offer the possibility for forgiveness and recovery are also underrepresented in our system of justice and within the academic literature. In the Shadow of Death uses narrative accounts of individuals affected by the death penalty and crime to explore what it means to have a loved one on death row. The in-depth examination of this under-studied population adds to the literature on loss, trauma, grief, and recovery. In addition to theory on trauma and loss, the book also uses restorative justice theory, which holds offenders accountable while searching for ways to mend communities and lives torn apart by crimes, and explores options for the offenders' family members to be brought into the justice equation and the process of healing and recovery. The book uses myriad interviews with offenders' and victims' families, legal teams, and leaders in the abolition and restorative justice movement, as well as court documents that include in-depth psychosocial histories of offenders, in order to help ground a vision of justice rooted in the social fabric of community.Less
Little is known about the effects of having a loved one on death row, and alternative visions of punishment that offer the possibility for forgiveness and recovery are also underrepresented in our system of justice and within the academic literature. In the Shadow of Death uses narrative accounts of individuals affected by the death penalty and crime to explore what it means to have a loved one on death row. The in-depth examination of this under-studied population adds to the literature on loss, trauma, grief, and recovery. In addition to theory on trauma and loss, the book also uses restorative justice theory, which holds offenders accountable while searching for ways to mend communities and lives torn apart by crimes, and explores options for the offenders' family members to be brought into the justice equation and the process of healing and recovery. The book uses myriad interviews with offenders' and victims' families, legal teams, and leaders in the abolition and restorative justice movement, as well as court documents that include in-depth psychosocial histories of offenders, in order to help ground a vision of justice rooted in the social fabric of community.
Michael Dougan
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199644735
- eISBN:
- 9780191740695
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199644735.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, EU Law, Public International Law
This chapter analyses the obligations concerning the enforcement of substantive Union policies by the member states within the national legal systems. The use of criminal penalties for the ...
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This chapter analyses the obligations concerning the enforcement of substantive Union policies by the member states within the national legal systems. The use of criminal penalties for the enforcement of substantive Union law arises in two main categories of situation. The first can usefully be termed the ‘velvet glove’: in the absence of Union legislation prescribing precise sanctions for its own enforcement, the member states are free to impose appropriate sanctions within their own legal systems — including penalties of a criminal nature — subject to various obligations imposed under Union law as interpreted by the Court in the famous Greek Maize ruling. In the second situation, the Union legislature positively requires the member states to criminalize certain infringements of Union law, and may even prescribe the detailed rules governing the imposition of liability and the type/level of sanction. That ‘iron fist’ can claim a constitutional provenance both more recent and more rumbustious than the Greek Maize jurisprudence: pre-Lisbon, bitter institutional disputes about whether criminal sanctions could or should be imposed under the First (or instead the Third) Pillar culminated in the Court's controversial rulings in the Environmental Crimes and Ship-Source Pollution cases; since 1 December 2009, the revised provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union have radically changed the relevant legal framework once again.Less
This chapter analyses the obligations concerning the enforcement of substantive Union policies by the member states within the national legal systems. The use of criminal penalties for the enforcement of substantive Union law arises in two main categories of situation. The first can usefully be termed the ‘velvet glove’: in the absence of Union legislation prescribing precise sanctions for its own enforcement, the member states are free to impose appropriate sanctions within their own legal systems — including penalties of a criminal nature — subject to various obligations imposed under Union law as interpreted by the Court in the famous Greek Maize ruling. In the second situation, the Union legislature positively requires the member states to criminalize certain infringements of Union law, and may even prescribe the detailed rules governing the imposition of liability and the type/level of sanction. That ‘iron fist’ can claim a constitutional provenance both more recent and more rumbustious than the Greek Maize jurisprudence: pre-Lisbon, bitter institutional disputes about whether criminal sanctions could or should be imposed under the First (or instead the Third) Pillar culminated in the Court's controversial rulings in the Environmental Crimes and Ship-Source Pollution cases; since 1 December 2009, the revised provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union have radically changed the relevant legal framework once again.
Rex Martin
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198292937
- eISBN:
- 9780191599811
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198292937.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The chapter suggests that there are three main modes of punishment (each with distinguishing features): (1) penalty, invoked against the offender; (2) compensation, to be paid to the victim of crime; ...
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The chapter suggests that there are three main modes of punishment (each with distinguishing features): (1) penalty, invoked against the offender; (2) compensation, to be paid to the victim of crime; and (3) treatment and rehabilitation of the adjudged offender. These are all modes of punishment in virtue of coming under the same general characterization, but each mode has distinguishing features as well. Penalty (e.g. imprisonment, fines) has the prevention of lawbreaking (and thereby the prevention of violations to the rights of others) as its exclusive or primary goal; it achieves this goal through credible examples of penalization or through incapacitation of the offender. Compensation is concerned principally with the good of the victims of crime (with restoration of such persons’ well being, with covering the losses they suffered through the violation of their rights by the offender); it achieves this goal by requiring that money or in‐kind aid be given to the victim (and achieves thereby, an incidental deterrent impact on crime as well). Treatment/rehabilitation is concerned with the good of the adjudged violator (though not exclusively, for the ultimate good of society is also contemplated); it achieves this goal through distinctive measures of treatment (e.g. medical treatment) and rehabilitation (e.g.education).One of the main thrusts of this chapter is to show that treatment/rehabilitation, in so far as it is required of adjudged violators is a quite specific and independent mode of punishment. The relevant argument here, respecting treatment/rehabilitation, is conducted mainly by considering a hard case: legal insanity, i.e. the after‐verdict handling of persons adjudged ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’.Less
The chapter suggests that there are three main modes of punishment (each with distinguishing features): (1) penalty, invoked against the offender; (2) compensation, to be paid to the victim of crime; and (3) treatment and rehabilitation of the adjudged offender. These are all modes of punishment in virtue of coming under the same general characterization, but each mode has distinguishing features as well. Penalty (e.g. imprisonment, fines) has the prevention of lawbreaking (and thereby the prevention of violations to the rights of others) as its exclusive or primary goal; it achieves this goal through credible examples of penalization or through incapacitation of the offender. Compensation is concerned principally with the good of the victims of crime (with restoration of such persons’ well being, with covering the losses they suffered through the violation of their rights by the offender); it achieves this goal by requiring that money or in‐kind aid be given to the victim (and achieves thereby, an incidental deterrent impact on crime as well). Treatment/rehabilitation is concerned with the good of the adjudged violator (though not exclusively, for the ultimate good of society is also contemplated); it achieves this goal through distinctive measures of treatment (e.g. medical treatment) and rehabilitation (e.g.education).
One of the main thrusts of this chapter is to show that treatment/rehabilitation, in so far as it is required of adjudged violators is a quite specific and independent mode of punishment. The relevant argument here, respecting treatment/rehabilitation, is conducted mainly by considering a hard case: legal insanity, i.e. the after‐verdict handling of persons adjudged ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’.
Richard L. Lippke
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199641468
- eISBN:
- 9780191732195
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641468.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
The Ethics of Plea Bargaining offers a sustained argument for restrained forms of plea bargaining and against the freewheeling kinds of it that predominate in the United States. Rewards ...
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The Ethics of Plea Bargaining offers a sustained argument for restrained forms of plea bargaining and against the freewheeling kinds of it that predominate in the United States. Rewards for admitting guilt are distinguished from penalties for exercising the right to trial. The latter appear in numerous guises and are shown to be indefensible. Modest and fixed sentence reductions for defendants who admit their guilt are urged. Deliberate overcharging by prosecutors and charge bargaining, it is argued, should be discouraged. Claims that large and variable charge and sentence reductions are needed to expand deserved punishment, reward remorseful offenders, encourage cooperation from defendants in implicating others suspected of crimes, enhance the deterrent profile of the criminal justice system, or salvage convictions when the evidence against accused individuals is weak are all shown to lack credibility. The contention that such reductions in punishment are justified because they are freely agreed by state officials and criminal defendants is likewise shown to be unconvincing, given the ways in and extent to which criminal justice practices ought to be structured by desert or crime reduction norms. Forms of overcriminalization are noted throughout the book and shown to complicate the analysis of plea bargaining practices.Less
The Ethics of Plea Bargaining offers a sustained argument for restrained forms of plea bargaining and against the freewheeling kinds of it that predominate in the United States. Rewards for admitting guilt are distinguished from penalties for exercising the right to trial. The latter appear in numerous guises and are shown to be indefensible. Modest and fixed sentence reductions for defendants who admit their guilt are urged. Deliberate overcharging by prosecutors and charge bargaining, it is argued, should be discouraged. Claims that large and variable charge and sentence reductions are needed to expand deserved punishment, reward remorseful offenders, encourage cooperation from defendants in implicating others suspected of crimes, enhance the deterrent profile of the criminal justice system, or salvage convictions when the evidence against accused individuals is weak are all shown to lack credibility. The contention that such reductions in punishment are justified because they are freely agreed by state officials and criminal defendants is likewise shown to be unconvincing, given the ways in and extent to which criminal justice practices ought to be structured by desert or crime reduction norms. Forms of overcriminalization are noted throughout the book and shown to complicate the analysis of plea bargaining practices.
Ignacio Palacios-Huerta
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144023
- eISBN:
- 9781400850310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144023.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
This chapter describes a novel behavioral bias not previously documented in a competitive situation: psychological pressure in a dynamic competitive environment arising from the state of the ...
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This chapter describes a novel behavioral bias not previously documented in a competitive situation: psychological pressure in a dynamic competitive environment arising from the state of the competition. Drawing on a data set comprising 1,001 penalty shoot-outs with 10,431 penalty kicks over the period 1970–2013, it collects information on the date of every shoot-out of every competition, the identity of the teams kicking first and second, the final outcome of the shoot-out, the outcomes of each of the kicks in the sequence, the geographical location of the game (that is, whether the game was played in a home ground, a visiting ground, or in a neutral field); and variables that measure the quality of the teams, such as their previous experience in shoot-outs, their official FIFA and UEFA rankings (for national teams), and the division, category, and standings (for club teams).Less
This chapter describes a novel behavioral bias not previously documented in a competitive situation: psychological pressure in a dynamic competitive environment arising from the state of the competition. Drawing on a data set comprising 1,001 penalty shoot-outs with 10,431 penalty kicks over the period 1970–2013, it collects information on the date of every shoot-out of every competition, the identity of the teams kicking first and second, the final outcome of the shoot-out, the outcomes of each of the kicks in the sequence, the geographical location of the game (that is, whether the game was played in a home ground, a visiting ground, or in a neutral field); and variables that measure the quality of the teams, such as their previous experience in shoot-outs, their official FIFA and UEFA rankings (for national teams), and the division, category, and standings (for club teams).
Peggy Kamuf
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780823282302
- eISBN:
- 9780823284801
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823282302.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book pursues Derrida’s assertion, in The Death Penalty, Volume I, that “the modern history of the institution named literature in Europe over the last three or four centuries is contemporary ...
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This book pursues Derrida’s assertion, in The Death Penalty, Volume I, that “the modern history of the institution named literature in Europe over the last three or four centuries is contemporary with and indissociable from a contestation of the death penalty.” The main question this book poses is: How does literature contest the death penalty today, particularly in the United States where it remains the last of its kind, a Christian-inspired death penalty in what professes to be a democracy? What resources do fiction, narrative, and poetic language supply in the age of the remains of the death penalty? These are among the questions that guide the analyses of four literary works, each a depiction or an account of an execution, in the search for deconstructive leverage on the concepts that prop up capital punishment. Different pertinent features are isolated in these texts: the “mysteries” of literary or poetic witness; the publicness of punishment in an era of secrecy around the death penalty; the undecidable difference between death by capital punishment and by suicide—a difference that Kant enforces and that Derrida contests; and even the collapse of the distinction between the sovereign powers to put to death and to pardon, a possibility that is shown up by a poetic work when, performatively, it “plays the law.” In relation to the death penalties they represent, these literary survivals may be seen as the ashes or remains of the phantasm that the death penalty has always been, the phantasm of calculating and thus ending finitude.Less
This book pursues Derrida’s assertion, in The Death Penalty, Volume I, that “the modern history of the institution named literature in Europe over the last three or four centuries is contemporary with and indissociable from a contestation of the death penalty.” The main question this book poses is: How does literature contest the death penalty today, particularly in the United States where it remains the last of its kind, a Christian-inspired death penalty in what professes to be a democracy? What resources do fiction, narrative, and poetic language supply in the age of the remains of the death penalty? These are among the questions that guide the analyses of four literary works, each a depiction or an account of an execution, in the search for deconstructive leverage on the concepts that prop up capital punishment. Different pertinent features are isolated in these texts: the “mysteries” of literary or poetic witness; the publicness of punishment in an era of secrecy around the death penalty; the undecidable difference between death by capital punishment and by suicide—a difference that Kant enforces and that Derrida contests; and even the collapse of the distinction between the sovereign powers to put to death and to pardon, a possibility that is shown up by a poetic work when, performatively, it “plays the law.” In relation to the death penalties they represent, these literary survivals may be seen as the ashes or remains of the phantasm that the death penalty has always been, the phantasm of calculating and thus ending finitude.
Emilie M. Hafner-Burton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155357
- eISBN:
- 9781400846283
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155357.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, EU Law
This chapter considers the rationales used by individuals when committing and justifying human rights abuses—how they calculate, to the best of their knowledge, the advantages and disadvantages of ...
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This chapter considers the rationales used by individuals when committing and justifying human rights abuses—how they calculate, to the best of their knowledge, the advantages and disadvantages of abusive behavior. It challenges the view pervasive in some accounts of crime and mass atrocity that perpetrators are insane, irrational, or psychologically (or biologically) abnormal. The chapter first examines the many ways that perpetrators rationalize their actions since nearly every account of systemic, long-term abuse includes a large role for rationalization. In particular, it discusses three ways that perpetrators rationalize their crimes: exceptional circumstances, avoidance of responsibility, and routinization. It then describes some of the perceived benefits of criminal abuse such as psychological superiority, intelligence, and monetary benefits, as well as the possible penalties for human rights abuses. The chapter concludes by addressing the issue of the credibility and effectiveness of deterrence.Less
This chapter considers the rationales used by individuals when committing and justifying human rights abuses—how they calculate, to the best of their knowledge, the advantages and disadvantages of abusive behavior. It challenges the view pervasive in some accounts of crime and mass atrocity that perpetrators are insane, irrational, or psychologically (or biologically) abnormal. The chapter first examines the many ways that perpetrators rationalize their actions since nearly every account of systemic, long-term abuse includes a large role for rationalization. In particular, it discusses three ways that perpetrators rationalize their crimes: exceptional circumstances, avoidance of responsibility, and routinization. It then describes some of the perceived benefits of criminal abuse such as psychological superiority, intelligence, and monetary benefits, as well as the possible penalties for human rights abuses. The chapter concludes by addressing the issue of the credibility and effectiveness of deterrence.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Asia is the next frontier in the campaign to end state execution because more than 95 percent of the executions in the world take place there. This book combines detailed case studies of the death ...
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Asia is the next frontier in the campaign to end state execution because more than 95 percent of the executions in the world take place there. This book combines detailed case studies of the death penalty in major Asian nations with cross-national comparisons. It demonstrates decline in the number of Asian countries using execution as a criminal sanction and a decline in the rate of executions in most nations that retain the death penalty. Few Asian nations conduct executions with any regularity, and even major nations with death penalties in their criminal codes use the sanction rarely. What separates the low-execution nations from the very few states with high execution rates is, more than anything, politics. All of Asia's high execution states are hard-line authoritarian regimes of the left or right. When former right-wing authoritarian states experience democratic reforms, the rate of executions drops sharply and the only noncommunist government that maintains high executions is Singapore. The key question is not whether Asia will end state executions, but when it can be expected to do so. If the end of executions depends on the democratization of relatively stable hard-line communist regimes, many decades may be required, but if the stigma of state executions continues to increase, the end of capital punishment in Asia could happen before more comprehensive political change occurs.Less
Asia is the next frontier in the campaign to end state execution because more than 95 percent of the executions in the world take place there. This book combines detailed case studies of the death penalty in major Asian nations with cross-national comparisons. It demonstrates decline in the number of Asian countries using execution as a criminal sanction and a decline in the rate of executions in most nations that retain the death penalty. Few Asian nations conduct executions with any regularity, and even major nations with death penalties in their criminal codes use the sanction rarely. What separates the low-execution nations from the very few states with high execution rates is, more than anything, politics. All of Asia's high execution states are hard-line authoritarian regimes of the left or right. When former right-wing authoritarian states experience democratic reforms, the rate of executions drops sharply and the only noncommunist government that maintains high executions is Singapore. The key question is not whether Asia will end state executions, but when it can be expected to do so. If the end of executions depends on the democratization of relatively stable hard-line communist regimes, many decades may be required, but if the stigma of state executions continues to increase, the end of capital punishment in Asia could happen before more comprehensive political change occurs.
Theodore Hamm
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520224278
- eISBN:
- 9780520925236
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520224278.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
This book uses the 1960 execution of Caryl Chessman as a lens for examining how politics and debates about criminal justice became a volatile mix that ignited postwar California. The effects of those ...
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This book uses the 1960 execution of Caryl Chessman as a lens for examining how politics and debates about criminal justice became a volatile mix that ignited postwar California. The effects of those years continue to be felt as the state's three-strikes law and expanding prison-construction program spark heated arguments over rehabilitation and punishment. Known as the Red Light Bandit, Chessman allegedly stalked lovers' lanes in Los Angeles. Eventually convicted of rape and kidnapping, he was sentenced to death in 1948. In prison he gained significant notoriety as a writer, beginning with his autobiographical Cell 2455 Death Row (1954). In the following years Chessman presented himself not only as an innocent man but also as one rehabilitated from his prior life of crime. He acquired an enthusiastic audience among leading criminologists, liberal intellectuals, and ordinary citizens, many of whom engaged in protests to halt Chessman's execution. The book analyzes how Chessman convinced thousands of Californians to support him, and why Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, who opposed the death penalty, allowed the execution to go forward. It also demonstrates the intrinsic limits of the popular commitment to the rehabilitative ideal. This book places the Chessman case in a broad cultural and historical context, relating it to histories of prison reform, the anti-death penalty movement, the popularization of psychology, and the successive rise and decline of the New Left and the more enduring rise of the New Right.Less
This book uses the 1960 execution of Caryl Chessman as a lens for examining how politics and debates about criminal justice became a volatile mix that ignited postwar California. The effects of those years continue to be felt as the state's three-strikes law and expanding prison-construction program spark heated arguments over rehabilitation and punishment. Known as the Red Light Bandit, Chessman allegedly stalked lovers' lanes in Los Angeles. Eventually convicted of rape and kidnapping, he was sentenced to death in 1948. In prison he gained significant notoriety as a writer, beginning with his autobiographical Cell 2455 Death Row (1954). In the following years Chessman presented himself not only as an innocent man but also as one rehabilitated from his prior life of crime. He acquired an enthusiastic audience among leading criminologists, liberal intellectuals, and ordinary citizens, many of whom engaged in protests to halt Chessman's execution. The book analyzes how Chessman convinced thousands of Californians to support him, and why Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, who opposed the death penalty, allowed the execution to go forward. It also demonstrates the intrinsic limits of the popular commitment to the rehabilitative ideal. This book places the Chessman case in a broad cultural and historical context, relating it to histories of prison reform, the anti-death penalty movement, the popularization of psychology, and the successive rise and decline of the New Left and the more enduring rise of the New Right.
Anthony F Heath and Sin Yi Cheung (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263860
- eISBN:
- 9780191734953
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263860.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This is a cross-national study of ethnic-minority disadvantage in the labour market. It focuses on the experiences of the second generation, that is, of the children of immigrants, in a range of ...
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This is a cross-national study of ethnic-minority disadvantage in the labour market. It focuses on the experiences of the second generation, that is, of the children of immigrants, in a range of affluent western countries (Western Europe, North America, Australia, Israel). Standard analyses, using the most authoritative available datasets for each country, enable the reader to make precise comparisons. The study reveals that most groups of non-European ancestry continue to experience substantial ethnic penalties in the second (and later) generations. But the magnitude of these penalties varies quite substantially between countries, with major implications for social policy. This account of minority groups in different countries provides important information for policy makers considering their own responses to ethnic-minority disadvantage.Less
This is a cross-national study of ethnic-minority disadvantage in the labour market. It focuses on the experiences of the second generation, that is, of the children of immigrants, in a range of affluent western countries (Western Europe, North America, Australia, Israel). Standard analyses, using the most authoritative available datasets for each country, enable the reader to make precise comparisons. The study reveals that most groups of non-European ancestry continue to experience substantial ethnic penalties in the second (and later) generations. But the magnitude of these penalties varies quite substantially between countries, with major implications for social policy. This account of minority groups in different countries provides important information for policy makers considering their own responses to ethnic-minority disadvantage.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This introductory chapter explains why this is a critical time for the death penalty in Asia and why Asia will be so significant in determining the future course of the death penalty worldwide. The ...
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This introductory chapter explains why this is a critical time for the death penalty in Asia and why Asia will be so significant in determining the future course of the death penalty worldwide. The first section provides a short review of the history of death penalty policy since the end of World War II; it focuses on western Europe, which has been the center of a two-stage change in death penalty practice and theory: first capital punishment was abolished, then the stated reasons for concern about state execution were transformed from criminal justice questions into basic principles about limiting the power of governments to ignore the interests of any of their citizens. The second section outlines some of the unanswered questions that remain about the death penalty. The most fundamental open question is how far the European-led campaign to end execution will go. The third and final section shows why Asia is a critical proving ground for theories about capital punishment and for claims about the future of death as a criminal sanction.Less
This introductory chapter explains why this is a critical time for the death penalty in Asia and why Asia will be so significant in determining the future course of the death penalty worldwide. The first section provides a short review of the history of death penalty policy since the end of World War II; it focuses on western Europe, which has been the center of a two-stage change in death penalty practice and theory: first capital punishment was abolished, then the stated reasons for concern about state execution were transformed from criminal justice questions into basic principles about limiting the power of governments to ignore the interests of any of their citizens. The second section outlines some of the unanswered questions that remain about the death penalty. The most fundamental open question is how far the European-led campaign to end execution will go. The third and final section shows why Asia is a critical proving ground for theories about capital punishment and for claims about the future of death as a criminal sanction.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter extends the analysis by profiling the great variety of death penalty policies in Asia, and it also outlines the research strategy employed in the chapters that follow. Its first and ...
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This chapter extends the analysis by profiling the great variety of death penalty policies in Asia, and it also outlines the research strategy employed in the chapters that follow. Its first and second sections provide an overview of the varieties of death penalty policy found in contemporary Asia by examining the region, first cross-sectionally and then temporally. The chapter's third section presents the book's case study methodology and explains the selection of five nations in East and Southeast Asia as the book's central subjects.Less
This chapter extends the analysis by profiling the great variety of death penalty policies in Asia, and it also outlines the research strategy employed in the chapters that follow. Its first and second sections provide an overview of the varieties of death penalty policy found in contemporary Asia by examining the region, first cross-sectionally and then temporally. The chapter's third section presents the book's case study methodology and explains the selection of five nations in East and Southeast Asia as the book's central subjects.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter traces the development of Japanese death penalty policy in order to arrive at a historically informed understanding of how contemporary policy-makers came to believe that at least one ...
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This chapter traces the development of Japanese death penalty policy in order to arrive at a historically informed understanding of how contemporary policy-makers came to believe that at least one execution should occur each year, and in order to discern why conflict persists around the issue of executions. The first half of the chapter describes and explains key capital punishment developments during four periods of Japanese history: the de facto abolition of the death penalty in premodern Japan; the dramatic decline of executions during the Meiji restoration of the late 19th century; the retention of capital punishment during the American-led occupation of Japan after the Pacific war; and the steady decrease in executions in the first four decades following the occupation. The chapter's fifth section shows that change is ongoing by examining the causes and consequences of the resurgence of capital punishment since the Aum Shinrikyo gas attacks of 1995. The two concluding sections identify lessons from Japanese history and explore alternative futures of the death penalty in Asia's most developed nation.Less
This chapter traces the development of Japanese death penalty policy in order to arrive at a historically informed understanding of how contemporary policy-makers came to believe that at least one execution should occur each year, and in order to discern why conflict persists around the issue of executions. The first half of the chapter describes and explains key capital punishment developments during four periods of Japanese history: the de facto abolition of the death penalty in premodern Japan; the dramatic decline of executions during the Meiji restoration of the late 19th century; the retention of capital punishment during the American-led occupation of Japan after the Pacific war; and the steady decrease in executions in the first four decades following the occupation. The chapter's fifth section shows that change is ongoing by examining the causes and consequences of the resurgence of capital punishment since the Aum Shinrikyo gas attacks of 1995. The two concluding sections identify lessons from Japanese history and explore alternative futures of the death penalty in Asia's most developed nation.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
After a brief history of capital punishment through the Marcos era, this chapter describes and explains the two Philippine abolitions and some of the other major death penalty developments that have ...
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After a brief history of capital punishment through the Marcos era, this chapter describes and explains the two Philippine abolitions and some of the other major death penalty developments that have occurred since Marcos was driven into exile and democratization began in this nation. Several themes are prominent, including volatility in death penalty policy and ambivalence about its usage, the high salience of capital punishment in the Philippine polity, the influence of the Catholic Church and of transnational flows of money and ideology, the European-like nature of the first abolition, the “developmentally precocious” nature and timing of the second abolition, and the high frequency of extrajudicial killing. At the end of this story the question remains whether the second abolition has permanently ended the battle over capital punishment in the Philippines or whether it is just one milepost on a journey that the Philippine death penalty will continue to travel. Although some observers believe capital punishment could be revived again, that seems unlikely, not least because the death penalty that was imagined at the time of restoration in 1994 turned out to be very different from the death penalty that was actually delivered.Less
After a brief history of capital punishment through the Marcos era, this chapter describes and explains the two Philippine abolitions and some of the other major death penalty developments that have occurred since Marcos was driven into exile and democratization began in this nation. Several themes are prominent, including volatility in death penalty policy and ambivalence about its usage, the high salience of capital punishment in the Philippine polity, the influence of the Catholic Church and of transnational flows of money and ideology, the European-like nature of the first abolition, the “developmentally precocious” nature and timing of the second abolition, and the high frequency of extrajudicial killing. At the end of this story the question remains whether the second abolition has permanently ended the battle over capital punishment in the Philippines or whether it is just one milepost on a journey that the Philippine death penalty will continue to travel. Although some observers believe capital punishment could be revived again, that seems unlikely, not least because the death penalty that was imagined at the time of restoration in 1994 turned out to be very different from the death penalty that was actually delivered.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter extends the discussion of the Asian vanguard by summarizing some of the most salient similarities and differences in death penalty policy in Taiwan and South Korea. In general terms, the ...
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This chapter extends the discussion of the Asian vanguard by summarizing some of the most salient similarities and differences in death penalty policy in Taiwan and South Korea. In general terms, the most important difference between Taiwan and South Korea concerns what each regards as the defining countries of comparison and contrast. For South Korea, how to relate to North Korea and how to reunify the Korean peninsula remain the central questions for the first decades of the 21st century. At the same time, Japan continues to be a key reference point with respect to a variety of economic, political, cultural, and legal issues. In Taiwan, by contrast, the defining comparisons tend to be with the People's Republic of China, and the most pressing questions about the future concern Taiwan's relations with the PRC. If the first theme of Taiwan's political history is democratization, the second is the persistence of political tensions with China. As for capital punishment in particular, the most salient comparative frame for Taiwan continues to be the PRC, although the United States has been important, too.Less
This chapter extends the discussion of the Asian vanguard by summarizing some of the most salient similarities and differences in death penalty policy in Taiwan and South Korea. In general terms, the most important difference between Taiwan and South Korea concerns what each regards as the defining countries of comparison and contrast. For South Korea, how to relate to North Korea and how to reunify the Korean peninsula remain the central questions for the first decades of the 21st century. At the same time, Japan continues to be a key reference point with respect to a variety of economic, political, cultural, and legal issues. In Taiwan, by contrast, the defining comparisons tend to be with the People's Republic of China, and the most pressing questions about the future concern Taiwan's relations with the PRC. If the first theme of Taiwan's political history is democratization, the second is the persistence of political tensions with China. As for capital punishment in particular, the most salient comparative frame for Taiwan continues to be the PRC, although the United States has been important, too.
David T. Johnson and Franklin E. Zimring
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337402
- eISBN:
- 9780199868674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337402.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter begins by providing a context for Chinese capital punishment through descriptions of the scale of criminal justice in the PRC and of the political organization of its criminal justice ...
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This chapter begins by providing a context for Chinese capital punishment through descriptions of the scale of criminal justice in the PRC and of the political organization of its criminal justice system. The second section estimates execution incidence in the post-Mao reform period, 1976 to the present. The third section contrasts two explanations for the high rates of execution in recent years: Chinese history as an influence on contemporary penal culture, and the political legacy of the past half century. The chapter argues that the proximate causes of China's death penalty exceptionalism are more rooted in the nation's recent history—and in the PRC's founding fathers, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping. The fourth section of this case study analyzes the 2007 reinstitution of death sentence review by the Supreme People's Court. The fifth section describes the likely impact of the 2007 reform, the administrative character and costs of the PRC's death penalty system, and the types of reform proposals that may emerge from China's renewed experience with Supreme People's Court review. The sixth and final section of this chapter focuses on the long-term future of capital punishment in China.Less
This chapter begins by providing a context for Chinese capital punishment through descriptions of the scale of criminal justice in the PRC and of the political organization of its criminal justice system. The second section estimates execution incidence in the post-Mao reform period, 1976 to the present. The third section contrasts two explanations for the high rates of execution in recent years: Chinese history as an influence on contemporary penal culture, and the political legacy of the past half century. The chapter argues that the proximate causes of China's death penalty exceptionalism are more rooted in the nation's recent history—and in the PRC's founding fathers, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping. The fourth section of this case study analyzes the 2007 reinstitution of death sentence review by the Supreme People's Court. The fifth section describes the likely impact of the 2007 reform, the administrative character and costs of the PRC's death penalty system, and the types of reform proposals that may emerge from China's renewed experience with Supreme People's Court review. The sixth and final section of this chapter focuses on the long-term future of capital punishment in China.
