Tocqueville's Moderate Penal Reform

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.

Presents the first systematic, book length treatment of the meaning and purpose of Tocqueville's first work, On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application to France Makes the compelling argument that Tocqueville moderately approached French penal reform by appealing to a holistic view of human nature and by balancing the risks of alternative penal institutions Expands our understanding of Tocqueville's political activity as a French statesman, his intellectual relationship to Francis Lieber, and our consideration of penal reform measures both past and present

Autorentext

Emily Katherine Ferkaluk is Instructor of Political Science at Cedarville University, USA. She is translator of On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application to France: The Complete Text and teaches courses in American politics and political theory.

Inhalt

1. An Introduction to Tocqueville's First WorkChapter 1: Tocqueville's Moderate Penal Theory.- 2. Tocqueville's Moderate Penal Theory.- 3. Tocqueville's Moderate Penal Activity.- 4. Tocqueville's Moderation and Lieber's Idealism in Penal Reform.- 5. Tocqueville's Moderate Penal Reform After 1832.- 6. Conclusion: Tocqueville's Penal Reform and Today's Penal Problems.