The last fifty years have seen a turn in the Catholic Church's public attitude toward capital punishment. From openly defending the right of the state to kill malefactors, the Church has become an outspoken opponent. What accounts for this? How can it be reconciled with Catholic tradition? Should the current teaching be called a 'development of doctrine'? Can we expect further change? These questions shape this thesis. The work is divided into three parts comprising a total of eight chapters. Part I undertakes a detailed exegesis of the death penalty teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997). I conclude that the text, while not explicitly stating that the death penalty is in itself wrong, lays down premises which when carried to their logical conclusions, yield just such a conclusion. This conclusion is checked and confirmed by the fundamental moral reasoning found in the papal encyclicals Evangelium Vitae and Veritatis Splendor. In light of this conclusion (what I call the new position), Part II asks the question: may the Church, constrained by sound biblical interpretation and dogmatic tradition, legitimately teach in a definitive way that capital punishment is per se wrong? This is a question which concerns the development of doctrine. Before it can be answered the Church's traditional teaching needs to be precisely formulated so that it can be placed in juxtaposition to the new teaching. An analysis of statements throughout ecclesiastical history is therefore undertaken and what we might call the cumulative consensus of ecclesiastical writers on capital punishment is formulated. The authoritative nature of this teaching is analyzed to determine what kinds of developments it admits and excludes. Judging its nature admits of a development like the one described in Part I, models are proposed to explain modes by which it might be understood to be developing. Finally, a systematic and philosophically consistent account of the new position is proposed and its implications for other teachings in the Church's tradition of 'justifiable violence' is examined.

What actions constitute reasonable correction (or reasonable corporal punishment) of children pursuant to section 43 of the Criminal Code has been the subject of much legal debate in recent years. In this thesis, I argue that the Supreme Court of Canada’s analysis of section 43 in Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada (Attorney General) (2004) failed to sufficiently delineate the justification, as demonstrated by the fact that the Court’s ruling has subsequently been manipulated and misinterpreted by lower courts across Canada. The post-Canadian Foundation jurisprudence has established a need for clarity, both with respect to the scope of section 43 and the provision’s proper application. I argue that Parliamentary reform of section 43 is required and I conclude by suggesting an amendment to the justification that seeks to incorporate current social science views on the issue and resolve the post-Canadian Foundation issues.

Over the past two decades, considerable political rhetoric has focused on the need to get tough on crime. Justification for this hard-line approach has been the publics apparent concern about rising crime rates and its increasing dissatisfaction with criminal sentencing. These concerns, often fuelled by the medias selective presentation of information about crime, are thought to leave people feeling afraid and, as a consequence, more likely to support punitive sentencing policies. The subject of this thesis is on the nature of and influences on peoples perceptions of and responses to crime. Four studies are reported. / The first study compared how people perceived the seriousness of an offence when it was presented first in the abstract form as is customary in public opinion surveys, and then as an exemplar based on an actual crime. Although the overall ranking of seriousness for the two conditions corresponded closely, the majority of crimes were rated as significantly less serious when presented in vignette form. / In study two, the role of social cognition and language in the evaluation of crime seriousness was examined. The findings revealed that when the offender in a crime vignette was named, the offence was perceived as less serious, and the offenders behaviour less internally motivated, less stable, and less under the offenders control than when the offender was not named. Similarly, manipulating the verb used to describe the offence resulted in significant differences with respect to the perceived crime seriousness, the degree to which the offenders behaviour was controllable, and the level of responsibility attributed to the offender for that behaviour. / Study three, which examined the relationship between fear of crime and punitiveness, entailed the development of two new measures: crime apprehension and locus of control for crime victimisation. Locus of control was found to be a significant predictor of crime apprehension, while the measure of crime apprehension revealed a pattern of concern that differentiated between types of crime, and involved different graduations in the assessment of their relevance to the individual. Punitiveness was shown to be related to a concern about the likelihood that one would be harmed personally; concern about property crime or the perception that crime is on the increase were not reflected in punitiveness. / Study four investigated the relationship between people's television viewing habits, their apprehension about crime, and their beliefs about increased crime prevalence. The pattern of responses revealed that heavier viewing of different programme types was associated with beliefs about perceived increases in different crime categories and for different aspects of crime apprehension. For example, watching more reality television and Australian crime drama was positively associated with beliefs that person-related offences had substantially increased over the preceding five year period, and increased apprehension about becoming the victim of person- and property-related crimes; watching more commercial news and current affairs programmes was also related to increased apprehension about becoming a victim of person and property-related offences. / A recurring concern in these studies was the need the address perceived deficiencies in definition and measurement of constructs of interest. The pattern of results confirmed the importance of such concerns and moves closer to resolving some of the inconsistencies evident in the research undertaken to date. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2004.

This research conducts a conceptual and qualitative investigation into the practices, rationales and functions of imprisonment in NSW. A specific system of imprisonment, in this case the prisons operated by the NSW Department of Corrective services, is explored in order to examine the practices, processes and justifications for incarceration. The various purposes, theories, rhetorics, practices and contradictions of the prison system in NSW and the ways in which the people who are responsible for the administration of this system make sense of its operations and its incoherencies, are central to this analysis. This research utilises a hybrid methodology involving aspects of content analysis and grounded theory. At the centre of this research are eight interviews with senior NSW Corrective Services staff. This analysis is supplemented by interview with ex-prisoners, and other people familiar with, but not working for Corrective Services. In addition a documentary analysis of both Corrective Services documents, and external literature examining NSW prison is carried out. The findings of these analyses are then explored with reference to both their internal coherency, as well as their relationship to a range of theoretical frameworks. The thesis connects abstract and philosophical questions of punishment and penalty with the logistics of running the prison system in NSW. This research found a diversity of practices, understandings and justifications of imprisonment which connected to particular cultural, social philosophical and structural trends. These included victimary discourses, the rhetoric of progress, the influence of managerialism, the faith in ???objective??? professionals, the increasing emphasis on empiricism, the conflicts between coercive practices and individual responsibility, the construction of prisoners as dangerous, and an ongoing struggle for purpose. Imprisonment in NSW was found to be characterised by discrepancies between the intentions of its administrators and pragmatics of its practice, conflicts between internal explanations of its purpose, as well as contradictions between internal Corrective Services accounts and external expectations about the roles, functions and practices of imprisonment. Theoretical perspectives explaining why these characterise imprisonment in NSW were developed. These perspective include the ???ought/is??? confusion of penal administrators, the inhumanity of humane containment, the myth of technocratic amorality, and the sedimentation of purpose.

This research conducts a conceptual and qualitative investigation into the practices, rationales and functions of imprisonment in NSW. A specific system of imprisonment, in this case the prisons operated by the NSW Department of Corrective services, is explored in order to examine the practices, processes and justifications for incarceration. The various purposes, theories, rhetorics, practices and contradictions of the prison system in NSW and the ways in which the people who are responsible for the administration of this system make sense of its operations and its incoherencies, are central to this analysis. This research utilises a hybrid methodology involving aspects of content analysis and grounded theory. At the centre of this research are eight interviews with senior NSW Corrective Services staff. This analysis is supplemented by interview with ex-prisoners, and other people familiar with, but not working for Corrective Services. In addition a documentary analysis of both Corrective Services documents, and external literature examining NSW prison is carried out. The findings of these analyses are then explored with reference to both their internal coherency, as well as their relationship to a range of theoretical frameworks. The thesis connects abstract and philosophical questions of punishment and penalty with the logistics of running the prison system in NSW. This research found a diversity of practices, understandings and justifications of imprisonment which connected to particular cultural, social philosophical and structural trends. These included victimary discourses, the rhetoric of progress, the influence of managerialism, the faith in ???objective??? professionals, the increasing emphasis on empiricism, the conflicts between coercive practices and individual responsibility, the construction of prisoners as dangerous, and an ongoing struggle for purpose. Imprisonment in NSW was found to be characterised by discrepancies between the intentions of its administrators and pragmatics of its practice, conflicts between internal explanations of its purpose, as well as contradictions between internal Corrective Services accounts and external expectations about the roles, functions and practices of imprisonment. Theoretical perspectives explaining why these characterise imprisonment in NSW were developed. These perspective include the ???ought/is??? confusion of penal administrators, the inhumanity of humane containment, the myth of technocratic amorality, and the sedimentation of purpose.

This research conducts a conceptual and qualitative investigation into the practices, rationales and functions of imprisonment in NSW. A specific system of imprisonment, in this case the prisons operated by the NSW Department of Corrective services, is explored in order to examine the practices, processes and justifications for incarceration. The various purposes, theories, rhetorics, practices and contradictions of the prison system in NSW and the ways in which the people who are responsible for the administration of this system make sense of its operations and its incoherencies, are central to this analysis. This research utilises a hybrid methodology involving aspects of content analysis and grounded theory. At the centre of this research are eight interviews with senior NSW Corrective Services staff. This analysis is supplemented by interview with ex-prisoners, and other people familiar with, but not working for Corrective Services. In addition a documentary analysis of both Corrective Services documents, and external literature examining NSW prison is carried out. The findings of these analyses are then explored with reference to both their internal coherency, as well as their relationship to a range of theoretical frameworks. The thesis connects abstract and philosophical questions of punishment and penalty with the logistics of running the prison system in NSW. This research found a diversity of practices, understandings and justifications of imprisonment which connected to particular cultural, social philosophical and structural trends. These included victimary discourses, the rhetoric of progress, the influence of managerialism, the faith in ???objective??? professionals, the increasing emphasis on empiricism, the conflicts between coercive practices and individual responsibility, the construction of prisoners as dangerous, and an ongoing struggle for purpose. Imprisonment in NSW was found to be characterised by discrepancies between the intentions of its administrators and pragmatics of its practice, conflicts between internal explanations of its purpose, as well as contradictions between internal Corrective Services accounts and external expectations about the roles, functions and practices of imprisonment. Theoretical perspectives explaining why these characterise imprisonment in NSW were developed. These perspective include the ???ought/is??? confusion of penal administrators, the inhumanity of humane containment, the myth of technocratic amorality, and the sedimentation of purpose.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Denise Donnelly, committee chair; Dawn Baunach, Charles Gallagher, committee members. Electronic text (86 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Feb. 25, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-77).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [102-106]).

Diss.--Göttingen, 1970. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 230-249.

Thesis (J.C.L.)--Catholic University of America, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-70).