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Penal Sanctions and the Process of Civilization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Jan J.M. van Dijk
Jan J.M. van Dijk*
Affiliation:
Research and Documentation Centre, Ministry of Justice, The Hague, The Netherlands
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Extract

“Humanitarians, libertarians and liberals must find some words which will once again let humanitarianism into the criminal system through the back door” Donald R. Cressey, in : F. Culler and K. Gilbert, Reaffirming Rehabilitation, Cal., 1982.

“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons”. This was for many years the favorite cliche of authorities lecturing on corrections. It became so popular that its authorship became a matter of dispute. The English attribute these wise words to Winston Churchill or George Orwell. On the continent of Europe it was considered to have been written by Dostoievski, one of the many Russian writers who were penologists through personal experience. Whoever the true author may be, the observation served for many years as a rallying cry for prison reform.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
International Annals of Criminology , Volume 27 , Issue 1-2 , 1989 , pp. 191 - 204
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 International Society for Criminology

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References

Notes and References

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(3) H. Bianchi, Conference on prison abolition, Amsterdam, 24-27 June, 1975, IAHCCJ (International Association for the History of Crime and Criminal Justice, Newsletter/Supplement to MSH), Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, Informations no. 9, Paris, December 1985.

(4) L. Hulsman, “Critical Criminology and the Concept of Crime”, in : H. Bianchi, R. VAN SWAANINGEN (eds), Abolitionism, towards a non-repressive approach to crime, Free University Press, 1986. See also John Blad a.o. (eds), The criminal justice system as a social problem : an abolitionist perspective (liber amicorum Louk Hulsman), Erasmus University Rotterdam, 1987.

(5) See Bianchi, van Swaaningen, 1986, op. cit.

(6) M. FOUCAULT, Discipline and Punish (translation), Vintage Book Edition, February, 1979.

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(9) S. COHEN, Visions of Social Control, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1985.

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(11) Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, Hundred years of penal code in the Netherlands, a statistical view of 1886-1986, CBS-publikaties, Voorburg, 1986.

(12) R. Matthews, op. cit.

(13) M.D. Barré, “130 années de statistique pénitentiaire en France”, Déviance et Société, juin 1986, Vol. X, no. 2.

(14) D. Downes, The Problems of Imprisonment, Including Strategies that might be Employed to Minimize the Use of Custody, paper presented to the European Colloquium on Research on Crime and Criminal Policy in Europe, Oxford, July 1988.

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(17) Prison Information Bulletin, Council of Europe, no. 9, June 1987.

(18) Prison Information Bulletin, Council of Europe, no. 9, June 1987.

(19) C. FAUGERON, Prisons in France : an irresistible increasing of the detained population ? Paper presented to the European Colloquium on Research and Crime and Criminal Policy in Europe, Oxford, July 1988; A. Kuhn, “Les origines du surpeuplement carcéral en Suisse”, Déviance et Société, December 1987.

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(25) Matthews, 1987, op. cit.

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(27) B.J.S. Data Reports, 1987, U.S. Department of Justice.

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(33) R. Bovens, Het Alcohol Verheer Project tijdens Detentie, WODC-rapport 38, Den Haag, 1983; R. Bovens, Evaluatie van het Alcohol Verkeer Project Drenthe, Ministerie van Justitie, Den Haag, 1987.

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(35) Home Office Research and Planning Unit, Research Bulletin, Special European Edition, nr. 24, 1987.

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(38) See note 8.

(39) Norbert Elias, Uber den Prozess der Zivilisation, 2 Bnd., Frankfurt am Main, 1976 (le ed. Basel, 1939); in English : Norbert Elias, The Civilizing Process : the History of Manners, Vol. I, Oxford and New York, 1978, Vol. II, State Formation and Civilization, Oxford and New York, 1982 (in the USA, Power and Civility); see also : N. Elias and E. Dunning, “Folk Football in Medieval and Early Modern Britain, in : E. Dunning (ed.), The Society of Sport, London, 1971.

(40) P.C. Spierenburg, Judicial Violence in the Dutch Republic, Amsterdam, 1978 (dissertation); H. Franke, Over beschaving en de afschaffing van het schavot, Amsterdam, Sociologisch Tijdschrift, nr. 2, 1985; A.H. Huussen, “Deprivation of liberty : a bourgeois alternative to corporal punishment?”, in : Symposyon The Centenary of the Deprivation of Liberty in the Netherlands, Groningen, April 15-18, 1986, Ministry of Justice, 1987.

(41) P. van Reenen, Overheidsgeweld : een sociologische studie van de dynamiek van het geweldsmonopolie, Alphen aan de Rijn, 1979.

(42) Paul Kapteijn, Taboe, Macht en Moraal in Nederland, Amsterdam, 1980; A. DE Swaan, “Uitgaansbeperking en uitgaansangst; over de verschuiving van bevel- shuishouding naar onderhandelingshuishouding”, in : De mens is de mens tot zorg, Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1986.

(43) P. Kapteijn, In de Speeltuin Nederland, over gezagsverhoudingen tussen ouderen en jongeren. Synopsis, 1985.

(44) See note 32 and P. Harraway, “The Driver Retraining Scheme : towards Managing Autocrime”, in : J. Pointing (ed.), Alternatives to Custody, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1986.

(45) Peter Murray, “The Close Support Unit : An Intermediate Treatment Provision for those at Risk of Removal from the Community”, in : J. POINTING (ed.), Alternatives to Custody, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1986; P.H. VAN DER Laan, “Innovations in the Dutch juvenile justice system : alternative sanctions”, in : J. Junger-Tas and R. BLOCK (eds.), Juvenile Delinquency in the Netherlands, Kugler, Amstelveen, 1988 (Dutch studies on Crime and Justice).

(46) W.R. Burkhart, “Intensive probation supervision : an agenda for research and evaluation”, Federal Probation, nr. 2, June 1986; R.H. Anson, “An examination of an intensive probation for alcohol offenders”, International Journal of Offender therapy and comparative criminology, nr. 3, 1987; B.S. Erwin and L.A. Bennett, New dimensions in probation : Georgia’s experience with intensive probation supervision (IPS), National Institute of Justice, Research in Brief, January 1987.

(47) L.A. Curtis, “The march of folly : crime and the underclass”, in : T. Hope and M. Shaw (eds.), Communities and Crime Reduction, HMSO, London 1988.