RT Article
T1 Foucault, prison, and human rights: A dialectic of theory and criminal justice reform
JF Theoretical criminology
VO 26
IS 2
SP 202
OP 223
A1 Jouet, Mugambi 1981-
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1800608276
AB Michel Foucault’s advocacy toward penal reform in France differed from his theories. Although Foucault is associated with the prison abolition movement, he also proposed more humane prisons. The article reframes Foucauldian theory through a dialectic with the theories of Marc Ancel, a prominent figure in the emergence of liberal sentencing norms in France. Ancel and Foucault were contemporaries whose legacies are intertwined. Ancel defended more benevolent prisons where experts would rehabilitate offenders. This evokes exactly what Discipline and Punish cast as an insidious strategy of social control. In reality, Foucault and Ancel converged in intriguing ways. The dialectic offers another perspective on Foucault, whose theories have fostered skepticism about the possibility of progress. While mass incarceration’s rise in the United States may evoke a Foucauldian dystopia, the relative development of human rights and dignity in European punishment reflects aspirations that Foucault embraced as an activist concerned about fatalistic interpretations of his theories.
K1 Foucault, Michel
K1 Punishment
K1 Prison
K1 Penal Reform
K1 Human Rights
K1 Death Penalty
K1 Criminal law
K1 Criminal Justice
K1 Comparative Law
K1 Comparative criminology
K1 Foucault
DO 10.1177/13624806211015968