Open AccessAnswers to losses
Author(s) -
Nils Christie
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
temida
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2406-0941
pISSN - 1450-6637
DOI - 10.2298/tem0601005c
Subject(s) - mediation , punishment (psychology) , criminology , strengths and weaknesses , social life , psychology , sociology , social psychology , law , political science , social science
All societies have their rituals. These are activated at important stages in life; birth and death, passing into woman-or manhood, large victories or defeats, - or when bad acts have been committed. Here punishment or mediation represents typical ritual answers. In my paper I will compare these two types of answers - punishment and mediation. I will look into their strengths and weaknesses as examples of important social rituals, and I will compare these two types of rituals with other fundamental rituals for passing important stages in life. May be we can understand more of both mediation and penal courts by comparing them to funerals and marriages, than as rational tools for facing crime. But the paper is not written yet. May be I will come in severe troubles