A Broader View of Punishment

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 2 argues that state actions that undermine caregivers’ capacities to support their families inflict undeserved collateral consequences on their innocent dependents. Scholars of criminology, political science, and sociolegal studies have expanded the understanding of what it means to experience punishment. There is a cross-national trend toward the criminalization of regulatory offenses such as immigration violations and thought or allegiance “pre-crimes” in anti-terrorism prosecutions. Despite formal divisions in the law between administrative sanctions and criminal punishment, immigration enforcement actions, denials of citizenship, denationalizations, and preventive detentions for inchoate offenses are equally punitive. Suspects, offenders, and those who depend on them should be entitled to counsel and other protections reserved for offenders in the criminal justice system. The state should assume responsibility for ensuring the adequate protection and well-being of those who are dependent on persons detained on immigration and terrorism charges.