edited by John Kleinig.  London and Burlington, VT: Ashgate. 2006.  ISBN: ISBN: 0 7546 2431 5 . Price $250.00/£130.00.

This volume brings together twenty five essays on the ethical issues relating to correctional policy and practice.  This diverse collection of core essays in the field reflects the complexity of the problems involved, the controversies and divisions within the area, and encompasses the ethical dilemmas inherent in the administration of prisons, as well as ethical challenges presented by practices alternative to incarceration.

The anthology is divided into five parts.  Part 1 provides a critical introduction and consists of a number of seminal contributions in the ethical debate about the links between wrongdoing, crime, and punishment.  The essay by Hart offers a framework for the discussion of the perplexities surrounding the institution of punishment and demonstrates that a morally acceptable theory of punishment must involve a compromise between different and often conflicting principles.  Morris in his essay claims that a criminal has a right to be punished and discusses several propositions concerning that right. 

Murphy postulates that (1) a retributive theory, despite its criticisms, is morally credible, and retribution can be a general justifying aim of punishment, and (2) a Marxist analysis of a society can offer a foundation for the practical applicability of retributivism.  Hampton explores the moral education theory of punishment which incorporates certain elements of other traditional rival theories of punishment, yet is different from them in important ways.  Reiman’s essay discusses whether and how capital punishment can be justified, and argues that although it is a just punishment for murder, it should be abolished.  Von Hirsch and Wasik deal with moral challenges raised by various disqualifications imposed on an offender on top of a formal sentence.

Part II of the volume, including essays by O’Hear and Lippke, analyses numerous ethical concerns presented by imprisonment as a form of punishment.

The focus of Part III is restorative justice and moral challenges presented by this approach.  Sherman opens the discussion with the essay on an ‘emotionally intelligent’ paradigm of justice.  Van Ness considers four important challenges faced by restorative justice and argues that they can be effectively addressed. Duff questions the sharp distinction which restorative justice proponents draw between the restorative and the retributive paradigms of justice and argues that restoration is not only compatible with retribution, but also requires it. 

Delgado compares restorative justice to the ‘traditional’ criminal justice, expresses doubts about the ability by both to dispense fair treatment and discusses the procedural challenges which the informal approaches to crime must confront.  Braithwaite and Mugford share their findings resulting from observations of failures and successes of community conferences in New Zealand and Australia and hypothesise the conditions of successful reintegration ceremonies.  In another essay Braithwaite articulates standards for restorative justice which could be used as criteria for evaluating restorative justice programmes.

Part IV of this collection raises wider ethical questions of correctional policy.  Jacobs’s essay focuses on issues of prison reform, prisoners’ rights and the capacity of the governments to manage growing penal facilities and prison population consistently with humane standards.  Maghan analyses the ethical dilemmas raised by privatization of correctional facilities.  Kleinig asks how hard the penal treatment should be and considers the factors that should determine or limit its hardness.  Sparks raises arguments concerning the issue of penal ‘austerity’ and principles of less eligibility (that is, the idea that conditions inside prison should not be better than outside). 

Cullen, Sundt and Wozniak put forward ‘the virtuous prison’ as a model for corrections, the fundamental goals of which is to foster moral goodness in inmates, and which will humanise imprisonment. Duffee concludes this part of the volume with the analysis of the correction officer subculture and organisational change on a basis of an empirical study and makes suggestions for changing the officer subculture values.

Part V deals with broad questions of professional ethics of prison personnel.  Liebling, Price and Elliot analyse staff-prisoner relationships, tasks which prison officers carry out and the nature of their work, in particular the peacekeeping aspects and the use of discretion, on the basis of an empirical study.  Kipnis investigates the ethical conflicts that arise for correctional health care professionals – the tension that may exist between the professional needs of the health worker and the freedom-restricting demands of prison.  Kleinig raises further ethical questions concerning health care in prisons, points out to the gap between the constitutional right of inmates to health care and reality, and argues that the state must ensure that basic human needs of prisoners are met. 

Wright’s essay examines ethical issues relating to management-staff relationship in prisons and the ethical obligations of prison officials towards their employees.  Jacobson continues the analysis of the ethical dilemmas that correctional administrators face, including their obligations towards the larger society, and discusses the way in which the privatization of corrections has complicated the practice of ethical behaviour by correctional administrators.

The editor points out that this collection of essays is intended to a large degree as stage-setting for further debates.  So, Appendix A sets out a detailed research agenda which could be pursued.  Appendix B lists some of the main correctional codes of ethics.

This volume is a useful resource for those involved in correctional practice, policy-making, and research, as well as academics, students of criminology and criminal justice and those interested in applied ethics and the issues relating to crime and justice more generally.  While bringing together the core essays on correctional ethics, this collection invites future ethical work in the area.

Margarita Zernova
June 2006