Article
Foucault, Prison, and Human Rights: A Dialectic of Theory and Criminal Justice Reform
Theoretical Criminology
(2022)
Abstract
Michel Foucault’s advocacy toward penal reform in France differed from his theories. Although Foucault is associated with the prison abolition movement, he also proposed more humane prisons. The article reframes Foucauldian theory through a dialectic with the theories of Marc Ancel, a prominent figure in the emergence of liberal sentencing norms in France. Ancel and Foucault were contemporaries whose legacies are intertwined. Ancel defended more benevolent prisons where experts would rehabilitate offenders. This evokes exactly what Discipline and Punish cast as an insidious strategy of social control. In reality, Foucault and Ancel converged in intriguing ways. The dialectic offers another perspective on Foucault, whose theories have fostered skepticism about the possibility of progress. While mass incarceration’s rise in the United States may evoke a Foucauldian dystopia, the relative development of human rights and dignity in European punishment reflects aspirations that Foucault embraced as an activist concerned about fatalistic interpretations of his theories.
Keywords
- Foucault,
- prison,
- criminal punishment,
- death penalty,
- dignity,
- human rights,
- race,
- Eighth Amendment,
- United States,
- France,
- Europe,
- Canada,
- Ancel,
- comparative law,
- legal history,
- Enlightenment,
- criminal law,
- criminal procedure,
- criminology,
- theoretical criminology,
- political theory,
- philosophy
Disciplines
- French and Francophone Literature,
- European History,
- Continental Philosophy,
- Ethics and Political Philosophy,
- Other Philosophy,
- Criminal Law,
- Criminal Procedure,
- Human Rights Law,
- Public Law and Legal Theory,
- Criminology and Criminal Justice,
- Legal Theory,
- Political Theory and
- Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance
Publication Date
2022
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/13624806211015968
Citation Information
Mugambi Jouet. "Foucault, Prison, and Human Rights: A Dialectic of Theory and Criminal Justice Reform" Theoretical Criminology Vol. 26 Iss. 2 (2022) p. 202 - 223 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mugambi-jouet/8/