Trial by Treatment

Punishing Illness in an Age of Criminal Legal Reform

Mary Ellen Stitt

$190.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

University of Chicago Press
20 May 2025

Jurisprudence & general issues

A troubling account of the unexpected impacts of treatment-based alternatives to criminal punishment.

Every year, courts send hundreds of thousands of people to treatment-based programs as alternatives to traditional punishment. These alternatives—known as 'diversion programs'—are widely celebrated as reforms that reduce the punishment of the mentally ill. But in Trial by Treatment, Mary Ellen Stitt shows that they have, in fact, expanded the reach of the criminal legal system and its power over the lives of the most vulnerable.

The inner workings of diversion programs are obscure, partially by design, and data on outcomes is hard to come by. Stitt draws on two years of fieldwork in criminal courtrooms and court-mandated treatment sessions, as well as an original national dataset, in-depth interviews, and experimental survey data, to document the hidden impacts of diversion. She shows that placing mental healthcare under the control of the courts has helped to legitimize the criminalization of illness, warped treatment environments, and amplified inequalities in punishment. In vivid and humanizing detail, Trial by Treatment shows how reforms that keep power and discretion in the same hands can entrench the very problems they promised to solve.

By: Mary Ellen Stitt
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780226840406
ISBN 10: 0226840409
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 20 May 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction: Punishing Illness Part I: Legitimation Chapter One: Rescuing Legitimacy: Treatment-Based Reforms in the Criminal Legal System Chapter Two: Extending Control: Diversion and the Interventionist Courtroom Part II: Assimilation Chapter Three: Managing Risk: The Design of Mandated Care Chapter Four: Coercing Care: Therapist-Enforcers and Client-Defendants in the Therapeutic Space Part III: Obfuscation Chapter Five: Sorting People: Adjudication by Social Structure Chapter Six: Punishing Treatment: The Costs of Diversion Conclusion Acknowledgments Methodological Appendix A Methodological Appendix B Methodological Appendix C Notes Index

Mary Ellen Stitt is an assistant professor in the School of Criminal Justice and faculty affiliate in the Department of Sociology at the University at Albany, SUNY. She is a former American Bar Foundation / National Science Foundation Doctoral Fellow in Law & Inequality and a Fulbright Scholar. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in the American Journal of Sociology,Punishment & Society, Social Forces, and Social Problems.

Reviews for Trial by Treatment: Punishing Illness in an Age of Criminal Legal Reform

""Trial by Treatment is a devastatingly vivid account of the criminal diversion reform movement, situated in the wake of mass incarceration and the implosion of U.S. mental healthcare. Using an incredibly wide array of data on how these proliferating programs function, Stitt reveals how this dispersed alternative approach further entangles vulnerable people within the criminal legal system and entrenches punitiveness in the management of social ills.""--Mona Lynch University of California, Irvine ""Drawing on a rich amount of data, Trial by Treatment powerfully demonstrates how court-mandated diversion cannot solve--and can even worsen--the problems of mental illness and substance use disorders. A timely reminder that reforms must get at the root of the problem lest they risk entrenching punishment and inequality.""--Matthew Clair author of ""Privilege and Punishment""