Determinate Sentencing: The Promise and the Reality of Retributive Justice

This book discusses in depth the rise and fall of the determinate ideal, once heralded as a replacement to the old order of criminal justice. Using new materials and combining political, empirical, and theoretical perspectives, Griset examines the attempt in New York State to establish determinate sentencing - "punishment for its own sake" - to replace the existing policy of rehabilitation. In portraying New York's experience against the backdrop of a national reform agenda, she analyzes the development and ultimate failure of a major social movement.