Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide Between America and Europe [Hardcover]

James Q. Whitman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195155254 | ISBN-13: 978-0195155259 | Publication Date: March 27, 2003

Why is American punishment so cruel? While in continental Europe great efforts are made to guarantee that prisoners are treated humanely, in America sentences have gotten longer and rehabilitation programs have fallen by the wayside. Western Europe attempts to prepare its criminals for life after prison, whereas many American prisons today leave their inhabitants reduced and debased. In the last quarter of a century, Europe has worked to ensure that the baser human inclination toward vengeance is not reflected by state policy, yet America has shown a systemic drive toward ever increasing levels of harshness in its criminal policies. Why is America so short on mercy? In this deeply researched, comparative work, James Q. Whitman reaches back to the 17th and 18th centuries to trace how and why American and European practices came to diverge. Eschewing the usual historical imprisonment narratives, Whitman focuses instead on intriguing differences in the development of punishment in the age of Western democracy. European traditions of social hierarchy and state power, so consciously rejected by the American colonies, nevertheless supported a more merciful and dignified treatment of offenders. The hierarchical class system on the continent kept alive a tradition of less-degrading "high-status" punishments that eventually became applied across the board in Europe. The distinctly American, draconian regime, on the other hand, grows, Whitman argues, out of America's longstanding distrust of state power and its peculiar, broad-brush sense of egalitarianism. Low-status punishments were evenly meted out to all offenders, regardless of class or standing. America's unrelentingly harsh treatment of transgressors--this "equal opportunity degradation"-- is, in a very real sense, the dark side of the nation's much vaunted individualism. A sobering look at the growing rift between the United States and Europe, Harsh Justice exposes the deep cultural roots of America's degrading punishment practices.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Whitman's whirlwind tour of the punishment practices of three countries over the last two centuries is well worth the price of admission. He has a deep pool of knowledge and an eye for the telling detail--a picture, a turn of phrase, or a small historical event--that helps to advance his thesis." --Boston Review

"Its combination of elegant writing, deep erudition and bold theorizing make the book a terrific read. Indeed, it ought to be required reading for anyone interested in how a society comes to punish the way it does--and how it should."--American Prospect

"Harsh Justice is original, imaginative, and erudite. I read it with great pleasure. The mastery of sources in many languages is awe-inspiring and Whitman's argument resounds with daring suggestions and bold insights. A genuinely learned book, nothing short of brilliant." -Lawrence Friedman, Stanford University

"In this book James Whitman asks and answers questions in realms where others fear to tread. He confronts the brutal fact that we punish more harshly in the United States than do Europeans and forces us to think about the questions of social structure that lie behind this practice. He develops a thesis about the current impact of Nazi jurisprudence that is sure to trigger arguments from more conventional thinkers. This is a profound book, impeccably researched and documented, one that will change the way we think about criminal punishment and increase our appreciation of comparative legal studies." -George Fletcher, Columbia Law School

About the Author

James Q. Whitman is Ford Foundation Professor of Comparative and Foreign Law at Yale University. He has taught at Stanford and Harvard Law Schools and was trained as a historian at the University of Chicago before taking his law degree at Yale.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (March 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195155254
• ISBN-13: 978-0195155259
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,376,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American versus European Criminal Justice, June 11, 2003

By 

Kevin R. Reitz (Saint Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide Between America and Europe (Hardcover)

Anyone who pays attention to the criminal justice systems in America and in other Western democracies knows that the U.S. as a whole is more punitive in its responses to lawbreaking than any similar society. Professor Whitman's wonderful book addresses the question of why this is so. The book's answers, rooted in centuries of history and rich comparative analysis, are surprising, provocative, and persuasive. I know I'll be considering and reconsidering Whitman's major arguments for a long time to come.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praise for Harsh Justice, May 12, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Harsh Justice: Criminal Punishment and the Widening Divide Between America and Europe (Hardcover)

"Harsh Justice is original, imaginative, and erudite. The mastery of
sources in many languages is awe-inspiring, and Whitman's argument resounds with daring suggestions and bold insights. A genuinely learned book, nothing short of brilliant."
--Lawrence Friedman, author of Law in America

"In this book James Whitman asks and answers questions in realms where others fear to tread. He confronts the brutal fact that we punish more harshly in the United States than do Europeans and forces us to think about the questions of social structure that lie behind this practice. He develops a thesis about the current impact of Nazi jurisprudence that is sure to trigger arguments from more conventional thinkers. This is a profound book, impeccably researched and documented, one that will change the way we think about criminal punishment and increase our appreciation of comparative legal studies."
--George Fletcher, author of The Secret Constitution

"Original, insightful, and provocative, Harsh Justice will start a conversation that has been importantly absent from modern criminology and criminal law. James Whitman asks fundamental questions about the cultural roots of modern differences in penal policy in developed nations and breaks new ground in addressing these issues."
--Franklin E. Zimring, William G. Simon Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley