Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment?

This book subjects the hidden phenomenon of benefit sanctions in the UK to sustained examination and critique. It examines the relationship between benefit sanctions and conditionality, shows how benefit sanctions have developed in the UK over the last 100 years, compares benefit sanctions in the UK first with benefit sanctions in other countries and secondly with other administrative penalties and court fines. These comparisons indicate that benefit sanctions are not only unusually harsh and cause real hardship but are also, in many important respects, incompatible with administrative justice and the rule of law. This book assesses the problems of punishment outside the courts, where few of the usual safeguards associated with punishment in the courts apply, and concludes by considering both what could be done about benefit sanctions and whether anything is likely to be done as long as work is prioritised over welfare.

Michael Adler is Emeritus Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow at The University of Edinburgh. He has published seven books, 13 research reports and eight edited collections of papers, and written 57 sole authored and 43 jointly authored articles and book chapters.