Tocqueville’s Moderate Penal Reform

verfasst von: Emily Katherine Ferkaluk

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Recovering Political Philosophy

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This book presents an interpretive analysis of the major themes and purpose of Alexis de Tocqueville’s and Gustave de Beaumont’s first work, On the Penitentiary System, thereby offering new insights into Tocqueville as a moderate liberal statesman. The book explores Tocqueville’s thinking on penitentiaries as the best possible solution to recidivism, his approach to colonial imperialism, and his arguments on moral reformation of prisoners through a close reading of Tocqueville’s first published text. The unifying political concept of all three discussions is Tocqueville’s underlying concern to pursue moderation between institutional and imaginative extremes in order to maintain liberal values. In both thinking moderately and advocating for moderate political action, Tocqueville’s On the Penitentiary System renews an emphasis on the importance of civic engagement and the balance between philosophy and praxis.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. An Introduction to Tocqueville’s First Work

Abstract

Ferkaluk reviews the historical context for Tocqueville’s and Beaumont’s study of American prisons, outlines the structure of On the Penitentiary System, addresses contemporary scholarship on the work, spells out some assumptions in her argument, and gives a brief overview of the subsequent chapters. Ferkaluk also provides a theoretical framework of Tocqueville’s moderate liberalism, which is used to interpret the main themes of the text. She argues that Tocqueville and Beaumont responded to two important penal questions in their first work. First, the authors addressed what type of penal discipline best represents a moderate view of individual reformation. Second, the authors answered a political question of what type of penal institution would best remedy the problem of growing recidivism in France.

Emily Katherine Ferkaluk

Chapter 2. Tocqueville’s Moderate Penal Theory

Abstract

In its analysis of nineteenth-century American penal goals, On the Penitentiary System presents a balanced view of human nature, a form of self-knowledge that penal reformers need when attempting to morally reform an individual via an institution. Ferkaluk argues that Tocqueville and Beaumont answer the question of whether incarceration should seek to perfect or restrain prisoners by articulating a specific relationship between body, mind, and soul as the moderating limit to penal discipline. The association between human nature and effective penal reform is explored through three contrasting pairs of elements in the American penitentiary system: theory and experience, solitude and labor, and corporal punishment and religion. Discussion of each element reveals the authors’ critique of immoderate penal imaginations which hinder the French from reforming the whole human being.

Emily Katherine Ferkaluk

Chapter 3. Tocqueville’s Moderate Penal Activity

Abstract

As part of its political purpose, On the Penitentiary System teaches us the importance of moderate political action for resolving problems that emerge within constitutional liberal nations. Ferkaluk argues that Tocqueville sought to temper French fears of recidivism by rejecting an easy but risky solution modeled after Britain’s penal colonies. Instead, Tocqueville attempts to persuade the French to adopt penitentiary systems modeled after American institutions because they promote a balance between centralized and decentralized administrative power. In both arguments, Tocqueville teaches the French public how to be moderate in penal reform to obtain justice for the criminal and to avoid a reputation for injustice garnered by imperial actions.

Emily Katherine Ferkaluk

Chapter 4. Tocqueville’s Moderation and Lieber’s Idealism in Penal Reform

Abstract

Upon returning to France from their famed journey to explore American prisons, Tocqueville and Beaumont asked Francis Lieber to translate their official penal report and publish it in America. Ferkaluk contends that Lieber’s penal thought, evident through his changes to On the Penitentiary System during translation, offers us an alternative to Tocqueville’s moderate pursuit of penal reform. Following Lieber’s own indications of how to use and understand his translation alterations leads us to see that his footnotes and appendices reflect a theoretical disagreement with Tocqueville and Beaumont on the purpose of penitentiary systems. Specifically, Lieber disagrees with Tocqueville and Beaumont on the merits of centralization when establishing penitentiaries, the role of institutions such as penitentiaries in the process of historical development, and the effectiveness of education to morally reform individuals within penitentiaries.

Emily Katherine Ferkaluk

Chapter 5. Tocqueville’s Moderate Penal Reform Beyond 1832

Abstract

Tocqueville’s and Beaumont’s continuing efforts in penal reform demonstrate the practical effect On the Penitentiary System had on French penal policy. Ferkaluk examines the French penal debates in which Tocqueville and Beaumont were participants, divided into eras marked by the republication of On the Penitentiary System in France (1833–1836, 1837–1845). She focuses specifically on interpreting two major changes to the revised editions of On the Penitentiary System: the substantive introduction added to the second edition and Tocqueville’s speech to the Chamber of Deputies in 1843 added to the third edition. These two documents reveal that On the Penitentiary System sparked a necessary national conversation in France on three key penal issues: the distinct difference between solitary confinement and silent work in common, the growth of houses of refuge for children, and the moderate balance between state and prisoner interests.

Emily Katherine Ferkaluk

Chapter 6. Conclusion: Tocqueville’s Penal Reform and Today’s Penal Problems

Abstract

Ferkaluk concludes her work on Tocqueville’s penal reform by noting two important questions that remain and briefly reflecting on the implications that a study of On the Penitentiary System has for the present. First, Ferkaluk notes that the question of evaluating Tocqueville’s penal reform in relation to his work in the Algerian colonization project needs further study. A second important question that emerges from this work is how do the themes of On the Penitentiary System compare to Tocqueville’s larger works, especially Democracy in America, which followed so closely in publication? Finally, Ferkaluk argues that Tocqueville’s moderate penal reform enables readers to navigate the relationship between crime and social mores, address multiple causes of crime, and understand the proper objects of the contemporary penal system in a moderate way.

Emily Katherine Ferkaluk

Backmatter

Titel: Tocqueville’s Moderate Penal Reform
verfasst von: Emily Katherine Ferkaluk
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-75577-9
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75576-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75577-9