Definition of "penology" [pe•nol•o•gy]

• The study, theory, and practice of prison management and criminal rehabilitation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "People who complain about the mildness of modern punishment, about “coddling” criminals, never seem to recall that modern penology is just that, modern."
• "A great advance has been made in penology by organization and annual conventions."
• "It may well be that 12 years of philosophy and prison have made me daft or corrupt or both, but after I have given my paper I have lunch with Jason and he tells me that it was a bit like Adorno, whom I haven't read but he has, and then he explains to me Hobbes's notion of diffidence and how he is applying it to modern ideas in penology."