What Durkheim achieved in his writings on punishment was, first and foremost, the establishment of the connection between forms of society and forms of punishment, a connection which has remained at the heart of the sociology of punishment. Second, his direction of attention to its expressive functions is important in understanding why there is still a public/political demand for punishment even if it is widely recognized as failing in its correctional/preventive aims. His contribution is elegantly summarized by Garland (1990a: 80):