Resocialization as the purpose of prison: some considerations on its meaning

Abstract

The subject of this text is the resocializating ideal that is originated with modern prison at the end of the 18th century and is consolidated, along these three centuries, as a declared essential purpose for prison. Within this subject, it presents a survey of the meanings that the term “resocialization” has in this trajectory, meanings that are considered relevant to the Traditional Criminology universe. Concerning this subject, it concludes that within this universe, despite the different nuances that it assumes historically, resocialization denotes essentially a moral reform of the convicted, enabling him/her to live in an extramural society in accordance with established social patterns. It also presents some critical considerations about this resocializating ideal, resorting to Alessandro Baratta, one of the predecessors of Critical Criminology. In this sense, it concludes for the need of improvements towards the reconstruction of the term “resocialization” under a critical perspective, which is a fundamental procedure for counteracting the conservative concepts which are still hegemonic in the Brazilian penal/penitentiary system.