The value of keywords: Mercy, equality, hope, and liberty in penal Policy, practice and experience

Session Submission Type: Pre-arranged Panel

Abstract

This panel examines the ethical concepts of mercy, hope, equality, and liberty in criminal justice processes, exploring the gap between their aspirational meanings and their use in practice. These values, we argue, shape penal policies and institutional practices but often serve contradictory functions—invoked as ideals while simultaneously reinforcing systemic inequalities.
Mercy, frequently lauded as a virtue, raises critical questions about fairness and discretion in judicial decision making.
Equality is considered a foundational value underpinning criminal law. Prosecutorial decision-making is meant to be guided equality. However, who gets prosecuted is often rooted in structural biases rather than justice. When prosecutors fail to be guided by values of substantive equality that consider social inequalities, decisions not to prosecute risk becoming a privilege rather than a principle, deepening disparities rather than mitigating them.
Hope, within the prison system, emerges as both a mechanism of resilience and a tool of control. It sustains incarcerated individuals by offering the prospect of rehabilitation and release, yet is often undermined by systemic neglect, parole denials, and prolonged uncertainty.
Liberty, while ostensibly absent in incarceration, is redefined through resistance, personal agency, and social interactions in prison. It is key to develop a liberal understanding of prison that encourages liberty formation during prison time.
Drawing on a range of data, this panel interrogates how certain values function in penal practices. By questioning the contradictions embedded in mercy, hope, equality and liberty, we examine the broader implications of these ‘keywords’ in shaping punishment, policy, and lived experience.

Subtopic

• Topic 5: Social Control and Criminal Justice / Courts and Sentencing and Penal Decision Making (Sentencing and Penal Decisionmaking WG)

Chair

• Lucia Zedner, University of Oxford

Individual Presentations

• Within and beyond the law: Examining theatre of mercy in sentencing courts - Netanel Dagan, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Marion Vannier, VANNIER

• Substantive equality and criminal legal processes - Marie Manikis, McGill University

• Towards a liberty-oriented theory of imprisonment - Adiel Zimran, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem