Facts, Values and Prison Policies: A Commentary on Zimring and Tonry

In: Punishment & society, Band 3, Heft 1, S. 183-188

Abstract

This article calls attention to the tendency of liberal criminologists to mix facts and values when assessing sentencing policies. It argues that an objective methodology for ranking countries with respect to sentencing severity has yet to be developed and urges caution and clarification in making moral criticisms of US sentencing policy and imprisonment rates.