The Apparatus of Control
Terence Morris · 2024
The last chapter of this book is not strictly concerned with what is called penology, in that penology tends to be confined to a discussion of the ways in which offenders are treated when they have been convicted. Important though that may be, the fate of the convict is only one aspect of the whole process whereby individuals, having been drawn into the vortex of the criminal justice system, undergo varying experiences, some of which have lasting effects upon them. Any discussion of the ways in which society attempts to define and control deviance must take account of them all. The experience of having been prosecuted and then acquitted on, say, a charge of shoplifting, is every whit as important as the experience of being prosecuted and found guilty of it.