Applying media and communication studies to sentencing and penal culture, Franko Aas offers a lucid and innovative account of how punishment is adjusting to a new cultural climate. "This volume is a welcome addition to the sparse literature dealing with sentencing from sociological perspective." - CCJ Volume 6, Issue 2 "'One of the main strengths of the book is the way in which Aas draws on the work of a range of theorists including Foucault, Garland and Feeley and Simon who have developed this approach in the field of criminal justice." - Neil Hutton, University of Strathclyde, UK "It is no easy task to do justice to the many virtues of this book in the space of a review? [Aas'] book's wide-ranging exploration into the practices of penological knowing and deciding will be an example and a point of departure for subsequent researchers in the field.This book would be an excellent choice for any advanced course in penal theory."- Punishment & Society, vol 9 issue 4, October 2007