Monstrous offenders and the search for solidarity through modern punishment

In this article, Professor Kennedy examines the tremendous increase in the severity of punishment in America in recent decades. He posits that crimina l punishment has come to serve as a new civic religion of sorts for a socie ty worried about its ability to cohere. The depth of our anxieties about ou r social solidarity, Kennedy argues, expresses itself in our monstrous conc eptions of crime and in the corresponding severity of our punishment. His c onclusion is that crime has come to serve as a rallying cry for a divided a nd insecure society, and that individuals and groups try to use punishment and the criminal justice system to send symbolic messages defining core val ues.