To make the punishment fit the crime

the long version

While everyone may agree that the punishment should fit the crime, it is much harder to reach agreement on just what is called for in specific cases. Philosophical treatments of punishment, which tend to emphasize the nature or justification of punishment in general, are often of no help in dealing with practical questions of the appropriateness of specific punishments. In this collection of often controversial essays, Michael Davis examines many of the practical problems of punishment. Among the issues discussed are how recidivism should be punished, how unsuccessful attempts at crimes should be punished, and how courts should deal with crimes of strict liability. Davis, a long-time contributor to the literature on punishment, also discusses problems of sentencing, and he responds to his earlier critics, including Hyman Gross, Andrew von Hirsch, and R. A. Duff. To Make the Punishment Fit the Crime is written in the rigorous, accessible, and iconoclastic style Davis's readers have come to expect. It is an essential book for philosophers, lawyers, criminologists, and others concerned about the future of criminal justice.