Book Review: Blomberg & Lucken, American Penology

Thomas G. Blomberg and Karol Lucken.
American Penology: A History of Control.
Aldine de Gruyter, 2000, 259 pp.
$US 23.95 paper (0-202-30638-0) $US 49.95 cloth (0-202-30637-2)

The National Institute of Justice recently released a press notice which indicated that over 6 million people were under some form of correctional supervision in the United States. Over two million of these individuals were in prison and the rest were either on probation or on some form of conditional release. Without doubt, the issue of control of these populations has continued to be a hotly contested issue. Legislators struggle with the fine line that demarcates personal privacy and public safety. Every indication points to an erosion of personal freedom and privacy. Laws that require sex offender registration and notification, disenfranchisement of voting rights and mandatory three strike statutes are part of the present penological landscape. Given this current context, the authors of this book provide a novel and insightful overview of the history of control in the United States. In fourteen carefully crafted chapters, the authors trace the penal relationships and patterns emerging from 200 hundred years of American penal experience and the impact of theorizing about the causes of crime on penal policy development.

This is a study about punishments past, present and future. The authors begin the story in Europe in the 1600’s and follow developments in penal theory and practice to the present day. It is their intent to discuss the “context, ideas, practices and consequences of various punishment reforms.” They use history as a frame to assist them in explaining “punishment ideas and practices in relation to the period and context from which they evolve.” In order to facilitate this purpose, the authors are selective in their choice of punishment reform eras and historical influences. The result of this strategy is an eclectic conceptual approach that uses insights from critical, progressive and bureaucratic perspectives.

Chapter one sets out the authors’ purpose, their approach and a brief summary of what is to follow. The story begins in chapter two with a discussion of punishment in ancient and medieval Europe and concludes that the rise of punishment practices “defies a single-factor interpretation.” The third chapter commences the American story and discusses punishment practices in the colonial era. The emphasis in this historical period was on condemnation, repentance and shaming. The community was seen to have a moral obligation to punish offenders. The next two chapters deal with the development of prisons and their proliferation and refinement as instruments of punishment for crime. Chapters six and seven chronicle the shifting philosophical base for penal interventions. Individualized treatment and offender rehabilitation were uncritically embraced. Government involvement was demanded in response to the social problems faced by industrialization, immigration and urbanization. In the next chapter, the authors outline the impact of the progressive reform movement and note the expansion of penal services through prisons, probation, parole and the juvenile courts. However, they point out, “while the penal system experienced unprecedented growth predicated on the unquestioned utility of the rehabilitative ideal, actual penal practices remained largely managerial, routinized, and control focused.”

Chapters nine and ten shift focus to a discussion of the targets of penal interventions with an overview of the sociology of prison life, namely inmate subcultures and the rise of the prisoner’s rights movement. The chapter on inmate subcultures is a particularly useful summary of the research on the social organization of the prison. However, they conclude this chapter on a pessimistic note by commenting that, “riots, hostage-taking, gang warfare, and inmate to inmate, inmate to staff, and staff to inmate violence are all increasingly routine aspects of everyday prison operations. Nonetheless, and despite these deteriorating conditions, prisons continue to be our penal strategy of choice.”

The next chapter examines a number of penal reforms that were part and parcel of the decentralization of corrections in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The key reforms were deinstitutionalization, diversion, and the rise of the community corrections movement. These reforms were to provide alternatives to the formal penal system. However, in practice, results were similar to the formal system and led, according to the authors, to an extension of control mechanisms. The following two chapters trace the demise of the rehabilitative ideal and the emergence of the law and order agenda. The major consequence of this shift in perspective was an unprecedented growth in prison populations resulting in overcrowding, rising costs and persistent criminal activity.

This book demonstrates that we have entered the 21st century with cumulative and expanding penal control patterns, together with an unprecedented reliance on prison for not only violent offenders but for non-violent offenders as well. The authors suggest that the image of the prison has been extended into the mainstream culture in which criminals and citizens alike are subject to new technologies of control and surveillance. They see a growing culture of control characterizing American society which is described by them as a sphere in which the “communities, homes and bodies of citizens are becoming increasingly glasslike.” The authors conclude the book with the somber observation that “[o]ur traditional values concerning the primacy of the individual and individual rights are at risk.” Unfortunately, due to the recent events of September 11th, this may be a moot point. The authors make a strong case for their argument, but the populace’s desire for security services may place even more demands on Governments to respond by expanding the net of control, even finer and thicker. Because of this possibility, I find this book to be particularly useful in informing the debate on what are appropriate penal measures in a free and democratic nation.

I would recommend this book for undergraduate classes and, if coupled with Blomberg and Cohen’s “Punishment and Social Control,” one could fashion a very interesting and informative semester course as well.

Donald G. Evans
Woodsworth College, University of Toronto
dge@sentex.net



		Canadian Journal of Sociology Online September - Octobert 2001 Thomas G. Blomberg and Karol Lucken. American Penology: A History of Control. Aldine de Gruyter, 2000, 259 pp. $US 23.95 paper (0-202-30638-0) $US 49.95 cloth (0-202-30637-2) The National Institute of Justice recently released a press notice which indicated that over 6 million people were under some form of correctional supervision in the United States. Over two million of these individuals were in prison and the rest were either on probation or on some form of conditional release. Without doubt, the issue of control of these populations has continued to be a hotly contested issue. Legislators struggle with the fine line that demarcates personal privacy and public safety. Every indication points to an erosion of personal freedom and privacy. Laws that require sex offender registration and notification, disenfranchisement of voting rights and mandatory three strike statutes are part of the present penological landscape. Given this current context, the authors of this book provide a novel and insightful overview of the history of control in the United States. In fourteen carefully crafted chapters, the authors trace the penal relationships and patterns emerging from 200 hundred years of American penal experience and the impact of theorizing about the causes of crime on penal policy development. This is a study about punishments past, present and future. The authors begin the story in Europe in the 1600’s and follow developments in penal theory and practice to the present day. It is their intent to discuss the “context, ideas, practices and consequences of various punishment reforms.” They use history as a frame to assist them in explaining “punishment ideas and practices in relation to the period and context from which they evolve.” In order to facilitate this purpose, the authors are selective in their choice of punishment reform eras and historical influences. The result of this strategy is an eclectic conceptual approach that uses insights from critical, progressive and bureaucratic perspectives. Chapter one sets out the authors’ purpose, their approach and a brief summary of what is to follow. The story begins in chapter two with a discussion of punishment in ancient and medieval Europe and concludes that the rise of punishment practices “defies a single-factor interpretation.” The third chapter commences the American story and discusses punishment practices in the colonial era. The emphasis in this historical period was on condemnation, repentance and shaming. The community was seen to have a moral obligation to punish offenders. The next two chapters deal with the development of prisons and their proliferation and refinement as instruments of punishment for crime. Chapters six and seven chronicle the shifting philosophical base for penal interventions. Individualized treatment and offender rehabilitation were uncritically embraced. Government involvement was demanded in response to the social problems faced by industrialization, immigration and urbanization. In the next chapter, the authors outline the impact of the progressive reform movement and note the expansion of penal services through prisons, probation, parole and the juvenile courts. However, they point out, “while the penal system experienced unprecedented growth predicated on the unquestioned utility of the rehabilitative ideal, actual penal practices remained largely managerial, routinized, and control focused.” Chapters nine and ten shift focus to a discussion of the targets of penal interventions with an overview of the sociology of prison life, namely inmate subcultures and the rise of the prisoner’s rights movement. The chapter on inmate subcultures is a particularly useful summary of the research on the social organization of the prison. However, they conclude this chapter on a pessimistic note by commenting that, “riots, hostage-taking, gang warfare, and inmate to inmate, inmate to staff, and staff to inmate violence are all increasingly routine aspects of everyday prison operations. Nonetheless, and despite these deteriorating conditions, prisons continue to be our penal strategy of choice.” The next chapter examines a number of penal reforms that were part and parcel of the decentralization of corrections in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The key reforms were deinstitutionalization, diversion, and the rise of the community corrections movement. These reforms were to provide alternatives to the formal penal system. However, in practice, results were similar to the formal system and led, according to the authors, to an extension of control mechanisms. The following two chapters trace the demise of the rehabilitative ideal and the emergence of the law and order agenda. The major consequence of this shift in perspective was an unprecedented growth in prison populations resulting in overcrowding, rising costs and persistent criminal activity. This book demonstrates that we have entered the 21st century with cumulative and expanding penal control patterns, together with an unprecedented reliance on prison for not only violent offenders but for non-violent offenders as well. The authors suggest that the image of the prison has been extended into the mainstream culture in which criminals and citizens alike are subject to new technologies of control and surveillance. They see a growing culture of control characterizing American society which is described by them as a sphere in which the “communities, homes and bodies of citizens are becoming increasingly glasslike.” The authors conclude the book with the somber observation that “[o]ur traditional values concerning the primacy of the individual and individual rights are at risk.” Unfortunately, due to the recent events of September 11th, this may be a moot point. The authors make a strong case for their argument, but the populace’s desire for security services may place even more demands on Governments to respond by expanding the net of control, even finer and thicker. Because of this possibility, I find this book to be particularly useful in informing the debate on what are appropriate penal measures in a free and democratic nation. I would recommend this book for undergraduate classes and, if coupled with Blomberg and Cohen’s “Punishment and Social Control,” one could fashion a very interesting and informative semester course as well. Donald G. Evans Woodsworth College, University of Toronto dge@sentex.net http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/cjscopy/reviews/ampenology.html September 2001 © CJS Online