Denies that punishment is about justice reason and law. This book shows thatpunishment is an essentially irrational act founded in ritual as a means tocontrol e... » 

Denies that punishment is about justice reason and law. This book shows thatpunishment is an essentially irrational act founded in ritual as a means tocontrol evil without creating more of it in the process. It looks at issuesranging from public executions and the development of the prison to theinvention of the guillotine. «