Beyond the Prison Gates

Punishment and Welfare in Germany, 1850-1933

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Criminal law, History, Germany, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Crimes & Criminals, Criminology
Cover of the book Beyond the Prison Gates by Warren Rosenblum, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Warren Rosenblum ISBN: 9781469606767
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: September 1, 2012
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Warren Rosenblum
ISBN: 9781469606767
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: September 1, 2012
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Germany today has one of the lowest incarceration rates in the industrialized world, and social welfare principles play an essential role at all levels of the German criminal justice system. Warren Rosenblum examines the roots of this social approach to criminal policy in the reform movements of the Wilhelmine and Weimar periods, when reformers strove to replace state institutions of control and incarceration with private institutions of protective supervision.

Reformers believed that private charities and volunteers could diagnose and treat social pathologies in a way that coercive state institutions could not. The expansion of welfare for criminals set the stage for a more economical system of punishment, Rosenblum argues, but it also opened the door to new, more expansive controls over individuals marked as "asocial." With the reformers' success, the issue of who had power over welfare became increasingly controversial and dangerous. Other historians have suggested that the triumph of eugenics in the 1890s was predicated upon the abandonment of liberal and Christian assumptions about human malleability. Rosenblum demonstrates, however, that the turn to "criminal biology" was not a reaction against social reform, but rather an effort to rescue its legitimacy.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Germany today has one of the lowest incarceration rates in the industrialized world, and social welfare principles play an essential role at all levels of the German criminal justice system. Warren Rosenblum examines the roots of this social approach to criminal policy in the reform movements of the Wilhelmine and Weimar periods, when reformers strove to replace state institutions of control and incarceration with private institutions of protective supervision.

Reformers believed that private charities and volunteers could diagnose and treat social pathologies in a way that coercive state institutions could not. The expansion of welfare for criminals set the stage for a more economical system of punishment, Rosenblum argues, but it also opened the door to new, more expansive controls over individuals marked as "asocial." With the reformers' success, the issue of who had power over welfare became increasingly controversial and dangerous. Other historians have suggested that the triumph of eugenics in the 1890s was predicated upon the abandonment of liberal and Christian assumptions about human malleability. Rosenblum demonstrates, however, that the turn to "criminal biology" was not a reaction against social reform, but rather an effort to rescue its legitimacy.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Southern Cultures: Special Roots Music Issue by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book Intimations of Modernity by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book Authorized to Heal by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book Seneca's Drama by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book All Bound Up Together by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book American Studies Encounters the Middle East by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book Searching for Subversives by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book Why America Lost the War on Poverty--And How to Win It by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book Conquered by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book The Political Languages of Emancipation in the British Caribbean and the U.S. South by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book When I Was a Child by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book The Promise of Patriarchy by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book Carolina del Norte: Geographies of Latinization in the South by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book Interpreting Our Heritage by Warren Rosenblum
Cover of the book The Land Question in Palestine, 1917-1939 by Warren Rosenblum
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy