Degradation, harshness and mercy -- Contemporary American harshness : rejecting respect for persons -- Continental dignity and mildness -- The continental abolition of degradation -- Low status in the Anglo-American world
Summary
Criminal justice in America is harsh and degrading when compared to other countries in the West. By contrast, France and Germany are systematically mild. Whitman suggests that the difference results from America's non-hierarchical social system and distrust of state power
