Graeme Wood of The Atlantic gets it: the combination of drug-testing and position-monitoring technology with a swift, predictable sanctions process means that Bentham’s Panopticon no longer requires beds, walls, or guards.
Graeme Wood of The Atlantic gets it: Â the combination of drug-testing and position-monitoring technology with a swift, predictable sanctions process means that Bentham’s Panopticon no longer requires beds, walls, or guards. Virtually any offender who is willing to play along can be adequately punished and incapacitated without entirely depriving him of liberty and without paying his room-and-board bill. Â Wood is also aware that the whole thing could get ugly unless it’s managed with a sense of proportion.
Update Bay Area reporter Jude Joffre-Block wore an anklet for a week to find out what it was like.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman