Rethinking Imprisonment

Democratic Self-Determination and the Disenfranchisement of Felons

“…This cannot be an outcome that sits well with proponents of disenfranchisement" [12]. For example, the person could not be legitimately denied the right to send letters expressing her political views to Congress or the local newspaper.…”

Are There Expressive Constraints on Incarceration?

“…Advocates of expressive accounts of punishment often claim that their views provide reasons for reducing the severity of penal sanctions. (See, for example, Duff 2001;Lippke 2007). Their views typically differ from mine in a crucial respect.…”

“…I have in mind here in particular restrictions on prisoners' freedom to associate and to undertake paid work. Someone might suggest that any form of imprisonment worthy of the name must incorporate these features; but work by Richard Lippke (among others) suggests that we should regard these as merely contingent-and undesirable-features of imprisonment (Lippke 2007). (We might also note that to the extent that these cease to be features of imprisonment, the case for thinking that expressive constraints on imprisonment rule out long-term imprisonment will be weakened.)…”

The Limits of Criminal Disenfranchisement

“…Richard Lippke focuses on what he calls ''the reasonably just society.'' 20 In a reasonably just society, a citizen must be in possession of the requisite moral and rational capacities to make reasonably informed decisions regarding their actions. Additionally, and importantly, there must be plausible options available to any citizen for the continuation of a sufficiently good or flourishing life.…”

“…It is unfortunately common in existing societies for criminal justice systems to be unfairly or unevenly enforced, thereby biasing the system against particular identifiable groups within each society. 26 This is discussed by Richard Lippke, who claims that ''[a]s anyone who studies the criminal justice system knows, those who wind up on the receiving end of legal punishment do so, in part, because of a complex series of decisions made by officials charged with the enforcement of the criminal law.'' 27 There are many areas where this bias can infiltrate the system.…”