Book Reviews : THOMAS MATHIESEN, Prison on Trial: A Critical Assessment. London: Sage Publications, 1990, 192 pp., £30 hardback, £10.95 paperback
| Author | Penny Green |
| Published date | 01 June 1993 |
| Date | 01 June 1993 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/096466399300200209 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
243
underpinnings,
Professor
Evan
is
not
overconfident.
He
describes
sociology
of
law
as
’theory
poor
and
data
poor’
(p.
231),
while
positing
a
social
systems
model
of
law
and
society
that
he
admits
is
’much
too
complicated
in
its
array
of
variables
and
functional
relationships
for
any
direct
empirical
test’
(p.
229).
The
worth
of
this
model
will
be
found
in
computer
simulation
experiments;
it
’may
serve
as
a
useful
heuristic
device’
(p.
229).
But,
computer
simulation
is
not
all,
for
Professor
Evan
proposes
a
reanalysis
of
’legal
historical
monographs
covering
comparable
periods
of
time
in
two
or
more
countries’
I
(p. 230).
This
task
is
suggested
’in
the
absence
of
relevant
time
series
data’
(p.
230).
Apparently,
texts
remain
important.
Unfortunately,
there
is
no
consideration
of
useful
contributions
in
this
area
by
the
law
and
literature
movement.
This
review
is
rather
equivocal,
but
so
is
Professor
Evan’s
book.
It
would
be
helpful
were
his
analysis
informed
by
recent
work
in
the
history
and
philosophy
of
science,
for
example
Rudwick
(1985),
Desmond
(1989)
and
Putnam
(1981).
He
might
then
conclude
that
part
of
the
trouble
with
defining
’sociology
of
law’
might
have
to
do
more
with
his
definition
of
’definition’
than
the
inherent
difficulties
with
the
field
itself.
It
might
also
show
him
the
way
to
overcome
what
he
regards
as
the
paradox
presented
by
the
adversarial
approach
to
truth
presupposed
by
the
legal
system,
that
he
believes
strikingly
contrasts to
the
nonperspectivisitic
or
objective
approach
which
underlies
the
method-
ology
of
scientific
inquiry
(p.
60).
Avoiding
the
trouble
presented
by
this
rigid
approach
to
definition
and
methodology
through
a
clearer
and
more
historically
aware
view
of
what
scientific
inquiry
is
about
should
hasten
Professor
Evan’s
progress
toward
the
laudable
goals
he
pursues
in
this
book.
REFERENCES
Desmond,
Adrian
(1989)
The
Politics
of Evolution
.
Chicago:
University
of
Chicago
Press.
Hartog,
Hendrik
(1989)
’The
End(s)
of
Critical
Empiricism’,
Law
&
Social
Inquiry
14: 53-9.
Putnam,
Hilary
(1981)
Reason
,
Truth
and
History
.
Cambridge:
Cambridge
University
Press.
Quine,
W.
V.
(1987)
Quiddities.
Cambridge:
Harvard
University
Press.
Rudwick,
Martin
J.
S.
(1985)
The
Great
Devonian
Controversy
.
Chicago:
University
of
Chicago
Press.
Trubek,
David
M.
and
John
Esser
(1989)
"’Critical
Empiricism"
in
American
Legal
Studies:
Paradox,
Program
or
Pandora’s
Box?’,
Law &
Social
Inquiry
14:
3-52.
MICHAEL
E.
DE
GRASSE
Lawyer
and
Labor
Arbitrator
,
Walla
Walla
,
Washington
,
USA
THOMAS
MATHIESEN,
Prison
on
Trial:
A
Critical
Assessment
.
London:
Sage
Publications,
1990, 192
pp., £30
hardback, £10.95
paperback.
’The
prison
is
a
fiasco,
and
does
not
find
a
defence
in
the
celebrated
purposes
espoused
in
penal
theory’
(p.
19).
Prison
has
no
defence -
in
practical
and
theoretical
terms
it
simply
cannot
be
justified.
This
is
the
conclusion
Mathiesen
reaches
in
his
detailed
and
scholarly
assessment
of
the
prison
as
an
institution
and
the
research
it
has
spurned.
And
it is
a
conclusion
that
only
the
most
ideologically
blinkered
could
fail
to
endorse.
As
many
European
and
North
American
states
underline
more
punitive
criminal
policies
with
an
almost
relentless
use
of
prison,
and
as
those
same
states
face
crises
of
prison
overcrowding
and
ever-expanding
inmate
populations,
Mathiesen
argues
for
a
To continue reading
Request your trial