本文以美國刑事司法領域裡經常出現的國家論述為對象，探討國家認同如何影響美國刑事司法，以及美國刑事司法如何成為塑造國家想像的重要場域。本文分別討論美國建國初期時，國家認同如何為司法改革者所用，催生現代監獄；二十世紀後，國家認同一方面提供保守派掃蕩激進份子的正當性，另一方面成為美國自由派革新刑事程序的最佳辯詞；國家認同更在美國歷史上同時為種族壓迫者與反抗者所用。於今日的反恐戰爭裡，國家認同議題亦不曾缺席。本研究意圖藉由不同面向的探討，鋪陳出國家認同於美國的刑事司法持續、綿密卻歧異的影響。

Criminal justice is often overlooked by researchers in political science as a site of nation building and national imagination. At the same time, researchers in criminal justice generally ignore the role that national identity has played in criminal justice. This paper looks into several important events and issues in the history of American criminal justice, including penal reform in the early Republic, anti-radicalism campaigns in the twentieth century, race issues, and today’s American war on terrorism, with the aim of uncovering the entanglement of national identity with American criminal justice. By providing an alternative angle from mainstream scholarship, I wish to show how thinking about identity in terms of the self and other is not only highly useful, but also crucial in understanding American criminal justice.