Promotional Information

An original new monograph on punishment and sentencing, arguing that 'proportionate' sentencing has not achieved its aim of reducing and limiting the penal system, and therefore that the approach needs to be reconsidered and reformed.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Politics of Penal Minimalism I. The Pursuit of the Minimal Penal State in an Age of Excess II. The ‘Problem of Punishment’ III. The Structure of this Book PART I DEFINING PENAL EXCESS Chapter One: Penal Excess and Penal Minimalism I. Conceptual Foundations: Penal Excess, Moderation, and Minimalism II. Political Foundations: Penal Minimalism as a Public Good III. Conclusion: Two Spatial Metaphors for Penal Excess Chapter Two: Penal Excess in England and Wales I. Mass Punishment: Excesses of Size II. Punishing the Poor: Excesses of Shape III. Conclusion: The Age of Excess Chapter Three: Penal Excess as the Failure of Retribution I. The Historical Context of Retributivism and the Rise of Penal Excess II. Retributive Proportionality and the Limited Penal State III. Critiques of Retributive Penal Minimalism IV. Conclusion: Catching Chimera by the Tail PART II PURSUING PENAL MINIMALISM Chapter Four: Other Routes to Penal Minimalism I. Rehabilitation and Penal Minimalism II. Restorative Justice and Penal Minimalism III. Penal Abolitionism and (Post-)Penal Minimalism IV. Conclusion: Is Penal Minimalism Possible? Chapter Five: Proportionality and its Alternatives I. Five Limiting Factors II. Conclusion: A ‘First Among Equals’ Approach to Proportionality? PART III CONFRONTING PENAL EXCESS Chapter Six: Groundwork for a Late Retributivism I. What Sort of a Theory? II. Why ‘Late’ Retributivism? III. Why Retributivism at All? IV. Conclusion: Late Retributivism and Orthodox Retributivism Chapter Seven: Elements of a Late Retributivism I. Social Awareness: Thinking Beyond the Penal State II. Political Outspokenness: Towards Substantive Democracy III. Inter-Subjectivity: Sentencing, for Humans IV. Self-Deprecation: Towards a Finite Retributivism V. Conclusion: The Core of Late Retributivism Chapter Eight: Conclusion: Confronting Penal Excess

About the Author

David Hayes is Lecturer in Law at the University of Sheffield.