Beyond Punishment

• In Event: Penal Abolition: Session 2 of 2

Abstract

I began participating in ICOPAs in 1987 when the International Conference on Prison Abolition became the International Conference on Penal Abolition, which I have interpreted to mean abolition of punishment in all its social manifestations, confinement included. It followed a return to study Norway as a relatively “peaceful society,” which grounded my understanding of the process of transcending the will to inflict pain or punish that I call “peacemaking.” Examples of political transformation of the will to punish in the short run are offered across the US criminal justice system, from US policing in communities of color, to alternatives to prosecution and incarceration, to control of prisoners and their custodians. In the long run, Norwegian penal history suggests that enduring reductions in incarceration reflect a cultural norm and preference for power-sharing among classes of people, especially children and adults, rather than resorting to power over others, including punishment, to maintain social order. By implication, as in the US, making peace instead of punishing each other in any social arena can, over time, move a political culture beyond punishment.

Author

• Harold Pepinsky, Indiana University