Reviews : Just and Painful: A Case for the Corporal Punishment of Criminals GRAEME NEWMAN Collier Macmillan, 1984; £11.95; pb; pp 142
| Author | Mary Barnish |
| Published date | 01 September 1985 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058503200312 |
| Date | 01 September 1985 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
112
REVIEWS
.
Contributions,
comments
and
suggestions
to
Peter
Simpson,
5
Derby
Lane,
Liverpool
L 12
6QA,
tel:
051-220
4221.
Just
and
Painful:
A
Case
for
the
Corporal
Punishment
of
Criminals
GRAEME
NEWMAN
Collier
Macmillan,
1984;
£
11.95
;
pb;
pp
142.
Rehabilitation
is
a
redundant
and
pernicious
concept.
It undermmes the
individuals
most
basic
freedom;
the
right
to
break
the
law.
It
spawns
a
variety
of
’treatments’
which
attempt
to
’get
inside
the
offender’s
head’,
as
well
as
nurturing
the
proliferation
of
prison.
The
just
desserts
philosophy
requires
retribution.
It
punishes
the
act
rather
than
the
actor
and
seeks
atonement
rather
than
cure
by
exactmg
a
reciprocal
cost
in
suffering
from
the
offender.
Electric
shock
is
preferred
as
it
is
quick,
clean
and
convincingly
painful.
Other
bright
ideas
from
Newman
include
harsh
prison
regimes
reserved
for the
’terrible
few’
and
available
only
for
terms
of
fifteen
years
or
life.
Although
public
tours
for
a
fee
are
also
suggested.
The
mam
plank
of
Newman’s
argument
for
corporal
pumshment
as
an
alternative
to
imprisonment
rests
on
a
zealous
indictment
of the
dehumanizing
process
of
incarceration.
This
contrasts
oddly
with
his
digression
into
gratuitous
grisly
detail
when
describing
with
relish
the
punishments
of
the
past
and
with
his
implicit
sanctioning
of
their
concern
with
the
‘quality’
of
the
penalty.
The
specious
connection
between
a
proscription
of
prison
and
a
prescription
of
corporal
punishment
is
illustrative
of the
sophistry
and
conceptual
crudity
which
characterise
Newman’s
crusading
tract.
Preferring quotations
from
Dante’s
Inferno
to
research
evidence,
he
attempts
to
substantiate
his
case
with
references
which
lack
authenticity
and
appear
largely
apocryphal.
Newman
intellectually
somersaults
from
one
theoretical
position
to
another
to
make
his
case
for
punishment by
electric
shock,
thereby
prompting
the
thought
that
some
overriding
motive
is
at
work;
a
desire
for
increased
profits
from
a
shareholding
in
the
Electricity
Generating
Board
perhaps?
Occasionally
Newman
blunders
upon
a
salient
issue
such
as
the
respective
limits
of
individual
and
collective
responsibility
or
the
significance
of
scape-goatmg
m
the
operation
of
criminal
justice
but
being
unable
to
recognise
a
potential
stumbling
block
when
he
walks
into
one,
he
crashes
Blimp-
like
through
philosophical
and
evidential
minefields,
swiping
wildly
at
spunous
conceptual
scarecrows
as
he
goes.
Newman
apparently
occupies
a
chair
of
criminal
justice
at
the
University
of Albany,
USA
Leaving
his
moral
facism
aside,
his
offences
agamst
the
rule
of
grammar,
logic
and
academic
rigor
make
a
sojourn
m
the
hot
seat
seem
arguably
more
deserved.
MARY
BARNISH
SPO,
Commercial
Road,
Inner
London
Drug-Related
Social
Work
in
Street
Agencies
NICHOLAS
DORN
AND
NIGEL
SOUTH
Social
Work
Monographs,
SWT/UEA,
1984,
£2.50,
pb;
pp
36.
This
readable
monograph
describes
the
immediate
origms,
development,
current
practices
and
inter-relations
of
three
projects:
the
Hungerford
Project
m
the
West
End
of
London,
the
Blenhelrn
Project
in
North
Kensington,
and
the
Community
Drug
Project
in
Camberwell.
Each
project
was
set
up
between
1964
and
1970
and
the
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