¿Por qué en sociedades como las nuestras las personas que han cometido un delito son castigadas de un modo más severo y tenemos muchísimos más presos que los que teníamos hace tres décadas? Con frecuencia, las transformaciones del castigo se piensan como un péndulo que, en respuesta a cambios económicos y políticos profundos, oscila mecánicamente entre el exceso punitivo y el exceso progresista. Esta perspectiva tiene el atractivo de la simpleza retórica, pero impide enten...

The history of criminal justice in the U.S. is often described as a pendulum, swinging back and forth between strict punishment and lenient rehabilitation. While this view is common wisdom, it is wrong. In Breaking the Pendulum, Philip Goodman, Joshua Page, and Michelle Phelps systematically debunk the pendulum perspective, showing that it distorts how and why criminal justice changes. The pendulum model blinds us to the blending of penal orientations, policies, and practices, as well as t...

An urgent account of why it’s so difficult to reform the policeThe eruption of Black Lives Matter protests against police violence in 2014 spurred a wave of police reform. One of the places to embrace this reform was Minneapolis, Minnesota, a city long known for its liberal politics. Yet in May 2020, four of its officers murdered George Floyd. Fiery protests followed, making the city a national emblem for the failures of police reform. In response, members of the M...