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In this book, Andrew Skotnicki argues that the criminal justice system can only be rehabilitated by eliminating punishment and policies based upon deterrence, rehabilitation, and the incapacitation of the urban poor and returning to the original justification for the practice of confinement: conversion.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Chapter I - The State of Penal Ideology and Penal Affairs
- Liberal Polities and the Ontology of Violence
- Divided Hearts and Minds
- Systemic Results of Ideological Disorientation
- Chapter II - It is Wrong to Punish Anyone for Any Reason
- Criminal Justice as Inclusion
- Outline of the Retributive Position
- Religious Defenses of Retributivism
- Critique of Retributivism
- Outline and Critique of Deterrence
- Thoughts on Incapacitation
- Concluding Thoughts
- Chapter III - Conversion as Inclusion
- The Prison as Metaphor for Introspection
- The Meaning of Conversion
- Phenomenology of Conversion
- The Crisis
- An Experience of Undeserved Compassion
- A New Identity in a New Community
- Accountability and Character Reform
- A Process of Progressive Participation
- Conversion and the State of Criminal Justice
- Chapter IV - What is Wrong with Rehabilitation?
- The Proponents of Rehabilitation
- Risk-Need-Responsivity
- Good Lives Model
- Other Rehabilitative Approaches
- Areas of Agreement and Possible Cooperation
- Chapter V - How Conversion Can Rehabilitate the Penal System
- Outline of a Penitential Mode of Confinement
- Social Rudiments of a Conversion Paradigm
- Confinement and Conversion
- Concluding Thoughts
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Index
About the author
Andrew Skotnicki teaches theological and criminological ethics at Manhattan College in New York City. He has published widely on the theological and ethical implications of criminal justice. He is the founder and director of the E3MC program (Engaging, Educating, Empowering Means Change), a partnership between Manhattan College and the New York City Department of Corrections.
Summary
In this book, Andrew Skotnicki argues that the criminal justice system can only be rehabilitated by eliminating punishment and policies based upon deterrence, rehabilitation, and the incapacitation of the urban poor and returning to the original justification for the practice of confinement: conversion.
Additional text
Skotnicki's splendid new book offers us an incisive critique of the criminality of our current criminal justice system. Erudite, yet eminently readable, Conversion and Rehabilitation of the Penal System presents a cogent case against both retributive and deterrent rationales for detention. Looking ahead to a systemic rehabilitation of our carceral regime, Skotnicki looks back to the original legitimation of incarceration-conversion and restoration to moral community.
