Punishment and Political Theory

(Hardback)

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This text brings together moral and legal philosophers, criminologists and political theorists in an attempt to address the interdependence of the study of punishment and of political theory as well as specific issues, such as freedom, autonomy, coercion and rights that arise in both. In addition to new essays on the compatibility of rights and utilitarianism, and of autonomy and coercion in Kant's theory, the book contains an extended treatment of the idea of punishment as communication. This theme is taken up in arguments over whether punishment is communicative, in the questions of what the content of any such communication could be in a pluralist society, and whether communicative accounts can make sense of the use of "hard treatment". By combining the techniques and expertise of different disciplines, the essays in this book illuminate the problem of punishment. They also demonstrate the usefulness of that problem as a testing ground for legal and moral philosophy.

Reviews

Individually, the articles comprising Punishment and Legal Theory are insightful; and, taken together, provide an important theoretical examination of the communicative theory of punishment. -- Lawrence Buhagiar, Carleton University * Current Issues in Criminal Justice Sep 2002 *

Author Bio

Matt Matravers is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics at the University of York.