Theorizing Fines
Punishment and Society, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 67-83, 2009
39 Pages Posted: 16 Sep 2009
Date Written: September 14, 2009
Abstract
Given their central place as a sanction in criminal justice, the virtual absence of a theoretical literature on them is a serious deficit. The paper reviews the principal contributions to date, and argues that they suffer from a misleading conviction that sanctions are driven by production relations. To begin with, this seriously underestimates the impact of penal discourses and practice, which can better account for variations in the rise, uneven distribution and recent decline in fines' dominance as a punishment. Equally important is the failure to consider the nexus between the rise of the modern regulatory fine (for example 'on the spot' fines) and the rise of consumer societies.
Keywords: fines, regulation, consumer society, social theory, money
JEL Classification: K10, K14, K30
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation