Whitman James Q. (EN) — Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide between America and Europe

Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide between America and Europe краткое содержание

Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide between America and Europe - описание и краткое содержание, автор Whitman James Q. (EN), читать бесплатно онлайн на сайте электронной библиотеки Lib-King.Ru.

Criminal punishment in America is harsh and degrading--more so than anywhere else in the liberal west. Executions and long prison terms are commonplace in America. Countries like France and Germany, by contrast, are systematically mild. European offenders are rarely sent to prison, and when they are, they serve far shorter terms than their American counterparts. Why is America so comparatively harsh? In this novel work of comparative legal history, James Whitman argues that the answer lies in Americas triumphant embrace of a non-hierarchical social system and distrust of state power which have contributed to a law of punishment that is more willing to degrade offenders.