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Limits to Pain

Christie, N
June 4, 2015

Source: (1981) Oxford, UK: Martin Robertson, 123p.

Imposing punishment within the institution of law means inflicting pain, intended as pain. This is an activity which often comes in conflict with values such as forgiveness. To reconcile the two types of response, attempts are sometimes made to hide the character of punishment. In cases where this is not possible, all sorts of reasons for intentional infliction of pain are given. The purpose of this book is to describe, expose, and evaluate major features of these attempts. >From social systems with a minimal use of pain, some general conditions for a low level of pain infliction are extracted.

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