The limits of blame : rethinking punishment and responsibility / Erin I. Kelly.
2018
K5103 . K49 2018eb
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Title
The limits of blame : rethinking punishment and responsibility / Erin I. Kelly.
Author
Kelly, Erin, author.
ISBN
9780674989436 (electronic book)
0674989430 (electronic book)
9780674980778
0674980778
0674989430 (electronic book)
9780674980778
0674980778
Published
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2018.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (229 pages)
Call Number
K5103 . K49 2018eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
364.01
Summary
Faith in the power and righteousness of retribution has taken over the American criminal justice system. Approaching punishment and responsibility from a philosophical perspective, Limits of Blame takes issue with a criminal justice system that aligns legal criteria of guilt with moral criteria of blameworthiness. Many incarcerated people do not meet the criteria of blameworthiness, even when they are guilty of crimes. The author underscores the problems of exaggerating what criminal guilt indicates, particularly when it is tied to the illusion that we know how long and in what ways criminals should suffer. Our practice of assigning blame has gone beyond a pragmatic need for protection and a moral need to repudiate harmful acts publicly. It represents a desire for retribution that normalizes excessive punishment. Kelly proposes that we abandon our culture of blame and aim at reducing serious crime rather than imposing retribution. Were we to refocus our perspective to fit the relevant moral circumstances and legal criteria, we could endorse a humane, appropriately limited, and more productive approach to criminal justice.-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Description based on print version record.
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Limits of blame.
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Table of Contents
Introduction: Criminalizing people
Accountability in criminal justice
Skepticism about moral desert
Blame and excuses
Criminal justice without blame
Rethinking punishment
Law enforcement in an unjust society
Conclusion: Civic justice.
Accountability in criminal justice
Skepticism about moral desert
Blame and excuses
Criminal justice without blame
Rethinking punishment
Law enforcement in an unjust society
Conclusion: Civic justice.