Delimiting community: examining the punitive implications of reformist and abolitionist discourse encoding an ‘us-them’ binary

Within reformist and abolitionist discourse on punishment, the articulation of community delimits those who can be considered a part of collective life and those who, having offended collective sentiments, are to be positioned outside the collective. By positing community at a moment of exclusion, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Anderson, Frea (Author) ; Kramer, Ronald (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
In: Contemporary justice review
Year: 2023, Volume: 26, Issue: 4, Pages: 376–392
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
justice models
punitive logic
Community
Abolition
Reform
Description
Summary:Within reformist and abolitionist discourse on punishment, the articulation of community delimits those who can be considered a part of collective life and those who, having offended collective sentiments, are to be positioned outside the collective. By positing community at a moment of exclusion, this discourse superimposes a villain at the discursive level. This article critiques the punitive implications of delimiting community, most notably: taking for granted the dangerous few and maintaining the tenability of punitive intervention. A discourse analysis of four dominant reformist and abolitionist theorizations reveals an us-them binary across their interpretations of punitive interventions. Our discussion explores the paradox of supposing social cohesion within an exclusionary framework and considers the possibility of imagining a non-punitive discourse.
ISSN:1477-2248
DOI:10.1080/10282580.2024.2330369