ABSTRACT

Too often writing on community-based corrections (hereafter community punishment) is done from a managerial perspective. Rarely is the sanction approached from an alternative point of view. This chapter addresses this imbalance by introducing not only a critical and radical perspective on post-prison community punishments, but one that is informed by the convict criminology school. Why is this important? The traditional utilitarian correctional literature has failed to include class, race, gender, and correctional status in its theorizing. Instead, the discussion has been limited to administrative strategies to manage voiceless people. In contrast, critical and radical perspectives exploit this failure by exploring explanations rooted in societal contradiction. The following discussion compares utilitarian and critical and radical perspectives on community corrections, including research on how prisoners view community programs, and new directions for a critical theory of community punishment. From a convict criminology perspective, persons serving sentences in community custody, for example on probation or parole, or as what is now called “community supervision,” may experience this as community punishment. The use of the term “community punishment” suggests that the following discussion will diverge from what is commonly known as community-based corrections. Unfortunately, many men and women experience community supervision as just more punishment.