Staff Use of Force in U.S. Confinement Settings: Lawful Control Tactics Versus Corporal Punishment

Part of a special issue on deaths in custody and detention. The writer discusses the pattern or practice of unlawful staff use of force in U.S, confinement settings that is cloaked with, or protected by, an air of legitimacy or facial validity. He asserts that it is not uncommon for ostensibly lawfu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Martin, Steve J. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2006
In: Social justice
Year: 2006, Volume: 33, Issue: 4, Pages: 182-190
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Social Psychology
Institutional care
Correctional law
Correctional institutions
Criminal Justice System
corporal punishment
Inmates of institutions
Treatment of prisoners
Prisons > United States
Prisons
Prison violence
Description
Summary:Part of a special issue on deaths in custody and detention. The writer discusses the pattern or practice of unlawful staff use of force in U.S, confinement settings that is cloaked with, or protected by, an air of legitimacy or facial validity. He asserts that it is not uncommon for ostensibly lawful applications of physical force to disguise the intentional infliction of punishment, retaliation, or reprisal on prisoners. He calls on courts to refuse to accept the logic that allows corrections professionals to modify the rule of law governing use of force in such a manner that it can be used to inflict corporal punishment on prisoners under the guise of an enforcement necessity to control them.