1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910255272203321

Autore

Eastaugh Charlie

Titolo

Unconstitutional Solitude : Solitary Confinement and the US Constitution’s Evolving Standards of Decency / / by Charlie Eastaugh

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2017

ISBN

3-319-61735-4

Edizione

[1st ed. 2017.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (XVIII, 233 p.)

Disciplina

365.6092273

Soggetti

Prisons

Criminal justice, Administration of

Trials

Public safety

Political Crimes

Prison Policy

Criminal Justice

Juries and Criminal Trials

Crime Control and Security

State Crimes

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1. The Hidden Corner of the Prison -- Chapter 2. An Adjudicative Framework: Morality and the Punishments Clause -- Chapter 3. The Eighth Amendment’s Evolution -- Chapter 4. National Consensus by State Counting -- Chapter 5. Proportionate Penology -- Chapter 6. Transnational Law -- Chapter 7. Professional Consensus.

Sommario/riassunto

This book examines American solitary confinement – in which around 100,000 prisoners are held at any one time – and argues that under a moral reading of individual rights such punishment is not only a matter of public interest, but requires close constitutional scrutiny. While Eighth Amendment precedent has otherwise experienced a generational fixation on the death penalty, this book argues that such scrutiny must be extended to the hidden corners of the US prison system. Despite significant reforms to capital sentencing by the executive and



legislative branches, Eastaugh shows how the American prison system as a whole has escaped meaningful judicial oversight. Drawing on a wide range of socio-political contexts in order to breathe meaning into the moral principles underlying the punishments clause, the study includes an extensive review of professional (medico-legal) consensus and comparative transnational human rights standards united against prolonged solitary confinement. Ultimately, Eastaugh argues that this practice is unconstitutional. An informed and empowering text, this book will be of particular interest to scholars of law, punishment, and the criminal justice system.