OUR COMPLICITY IN AN UNJUST PUNISHMENT REGIME

Robert A. Ferguson, Inferno: An Anatomy of American Punishment (Cambridge, Massachusetts, & London, England: Harvard U. Press, 2014) (From the bookjacket: "Looking not only to court records but to works of philosophy, history, and literature for illumination, Robert Ferguson . . . diagnoses all parts of a now massive, out-of-control punishment regime. He reveals the veiled pleasure behind the impulse to punish (which confuses our thinking about the purpose of punishment), explains why over time all punishment regimes impose greater levels of punishment than originally intended, and traces a disturbing gap between out ability to quantify pain and the precision with which penalties are handed down." "Ferguson turns the spotlight from the debate over legal issues to the real plight of prisoners, addressing not law professionals but the American people. Do we want out prisons to be this way? Or are we unaware, or confused, or indifferent, or misinformed about what is happening? Acknowledging the suffering of prisoners and understanding what punishers do when they punish are the first steps toward a better, more just system.").