Reconstructing the Criminal: Culture, Law, and Policy in England, 1830-1914
This
ambitious and imaginative work interprets criminal justice history by
relating it to intellectual and cultural history. Starting from the
assumption that policies and statutes originate in a society's values
and norms, the author skillfully and persuasively demonstrates how
changes in criminal law and penal practice were related to the changing
values of early, mid, and late Victorian and Edwardian society. Wiener
traces changes in the criminal justice system by examining the treatment
of offenders. During the Victorian period the system became more
punitive and then reformed to be more welfarist. This work offers
insight into the contemporary Anglo-American penal system. In addition,
Wiener's wide-ranging discussion of issues, most notably of free will
versus determinism, sheds light on a broad range of Victorian history,
beyond crime and punishment.
