Research Catalog

Thinking about crime : sense and sensibility in American penal culture / Michael Tonry.

Title: Thinking about crime : sense and sensibility in American penal culture / Michael Tonry.
Author: Tonry, Michael H.
Publication: New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	HV9471 .T65 2004	Off-site

Details

Description

x, 260 p. : ill.; 22 cm.

Summary

"In this wide-ranging analysis, Michael Tonry argues that those responsible for crafting America's criminal justice policy have lost their way in a forest of good intentions, political cynicism, and public anxieties. American crime control politics over time have created a punishment system no one would knowingly have chosen yet one that no one seems able to change. Fueled by kneejerk rhetoric and moral panics, the current crime control regime is founded on short-term thinking and the personal ambitions of politicians terrified of appearing "soft on crime," rather than on policies that work." "A spirited manifesto rooted in a lifetime of crime expertise, Tonry's book calls on politicians and policymakers to choose the right path, not the easy or politically expedient one, know how to create an effective and humane criminal justice system. Now we must have the courage to do so, by abandoning the current status quo, which is both costly and cruel, in favor of practices that will move America closer to the mainstream of contemporary Western values."--Jacket.

Series Statement

Studies in crime and public policy

Uniform Title

Studies in crime and public policy

Subject

Genre/Form

Electronic books.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-248) and index.

Processing Action (note)

committed to retain

Contents

Sense and sensibility in American penal culture -- Why so many Americans are in prison -- Cycles and sensibilities -- Moral panics and "windows of opportunity" -- Crime trends and the effects of crime control policies -- Formerly unthinkable policies -- Unthought thoughts -- Better understanding, people, and policies.

ISBN

0195141016 (cloth)

LCCN

^^2003004245

OCLC

51728713
SCSB-10092813

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library