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Distinguishing Civil And Criminal Institutional Deprivations Of Liberty: An Analysis Of Expressive Functions, Marc W. Pearce

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A basic function of the criminal justice system is to impose legal punishment through deprivations of liberty. Because deprivations of liberty that flow from civil institutions are not punitive, the distinction between civil and criminal institutional deprivations of liberty arguably hinges on the concept of punishment. Punishment, in turn, may be distinguished from non-punitive sanctions based on its unique expressive function; that is, punishment is defined in part by the special feelings of resentment and judgments of disapproval that it expresses. These feelings and judgments have been labeled “condemnation.” This dissertation explores whether condemnation can be translated into an empirical …