Thinking About Punishment: Penal Policy Across Space, Time and Discipline

Tonry (U. of Minnesota Law School) collects sixteen of his own writings in the field of criminal law, previously published between 1978 and 2009. In putting together the collection, he has chosen to emphasize key themes of his career: the role of race and ethnicity in crime and punishment, comparative and American penal policy, sentencing policy in the United States, and the normative theory of punishment that underlies sentencing policy. Specific topics include ethnicity, crime, and immigration; the malign affects of drugs and crime control policies on black Americans; punishment policies and patterns in Western countries; determinants of penal policies; sentencing reform in the United States; mandatory penalties; purposes and functions of sentencing; interchangeability of punishments in principle; and obsolescence and immanence in penal theory and policy. Also included is a bibliography of Tonry's published writings. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michael Tonry is Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of Minnesota, USA