Bring Back Flogging

In Jeff Jacoby’s essay, Bring Back Flogging, he discusses the modern day justice system, and the ways in which he believes it should change. Jacoby’s stance on the topic is that United States of America should bring back flogging as an alternate to jailing felons. Jacoby never actually states this view in a thesis, but it is implied through the evidence given and the general attitude of the essay. Jacoby begins the essay with an anecdote from the 17 th century. Jacoby says that Bostonian Puritans would often use flogging as a form of punishment for various different crimes as oppose to other forms of punishment. He also notes that the Puritans would do other things such as branding with hot irons so that the felon is known. This anecdote is

Satire is a literary technique to reveal the issues of an individual or the current society. One of the prime philosophies of today came about from the novel Anthem, by Ayn Rand, in which Rand incorporates satire to expose real life problems. Her rendition of romantic realism, based upon her objectivist theory, shaped the incongruities of a “hero’s” nature. In Ayn Rand’s satirical novel, Anthem, Rand uses humor, irony, and satire to demonstrate her ideas of romantic realism between her main character, Equality 7-2521, and the society. Her use of humor recognizes Equality’s odd situation and nature, and identifies his view on self-worth and love.

Without the use of these statistics, Jacoby would not be able to suggest such a solution and effectively convey his point. As a result, Jacoby proves that through his research, he is qualified to make his arguments against prisons.

The delivery of punishment has changed significantly over the centuries. Up until the 19th century in England, imprisonment was not regarded as a punishment, it was merely used while the offender waited to be sentenced to their ‘real’ punishment (Bull, 2010; Hirst, 1998). Corporal punishment such as flogging, branding and mutilation, death by hanging, and transportation to other continents such as America and Australia were common punitive measures through the ages, until well into the 1800’s (Newburn, 2003). Although these extreme penalties are no longer acceptable or practised by criminal courts in England or Australia, in some ways, the past has

     This essay by Jeff Jacoby illustrates an authors use of ironic sarcasm otherwise known as satire to defend and illustrate his platform on his position. Jacoby uses in this essay verbal irony (persuasion in the form of ridicule). In the irony of this sort there is a contrast between what is said and what is meant.

     The essay begins by drawing forth images of Puritan punishment. He cites two instances of punishment, which were particularly torturous and radical in nature. He then draws a comparison between this inhumane punishment and imprisonment by stating with irony that, “Now we practice a more enlightened, more humane way of disciplining wrong doers: we lock them up in cages.” His use of the word “cages”

Jacoby used logos to persuade the reader to believe flogging is the more logical and humane aspect to punishment compared to prison. He used many statistics and his references were creditable. His evidence was valid to the argument and helped to discuss the subject in a

Besides, on paragraphs 2 and 3, Jeff Jacoby mentions four cases of people that were punished by the Puritans. This group committed crimes that today

To begin with, at the start of his article, Jeff Jacoby mentions old punishments, horrible punishments, pursued by Puritans, but at the same time

Is it mass incarceration in the United States a form of increasing profit? Since private prisons were established, English procedures as well as European’s procedures influenced the America imprisonment system. Two major systems were developed in America during the 19th century in Philadelphia. During this time, crimes were castigated with imprisonment and later with hard labor, which was seen as a more humane method of punishment for inmates than actual physical castigation. These types of prison were established in the course of industrial development. Therefore, opportunity doors were opened to private sector involvement in such industry of prisons. According to David Shichor, “ the contractor enters the prison, efficiently organizes production, industrializes the workshops, partially pays for work done, manufactures non-craft goods and personally handles the distribution of these goods on the free market”(29).

Jacoby starts the article in giving a history of how Puritans dealt with punishment back in the early days of Boston. He says, “Joseph Gatchell, convicted of blasphemy in 1684, was ordered to stand in pillory, have his head and hand put in & have his toung drawne forth out of his mouth, & peirct through with a hott iron." (Jacoby, 1997, Page 1) However, punishment like this was deemed to inhumane and the prison system was getting too crowded, and other types of corporal punishment like what happened to Joseph Gatchell was still in use until Delaware was the last state to use it in 1972. Since then the prison system keeps filling up when it does not need to

Jeff Jacoby, a law school graduate and Boston Globe columnist, describes in his article “Bring Back Flogging” modern systemic prison failures and offers an alternative punishment: flogging.

This can be seen throughout the whole text and adds to its wittiness and mystery. The main weapon of the satirist is verbal irony, a figure of speech where words are used to mock a person or thing by conveying a meaning that is the reverse of what the words say. This is evident throughout the entire piece and begins when he proposes his own thoughts on how to conquer the problem of a large amount of poor, starving and

Satire is constantly evolving in order to maintain with the times. As technology, culture and humanity change and grow, satire is forced to grow with it. Satire of our modern time is more likely to be found on our phones than on print, more likely on a television than a telegram. By merging with pop culture, in forms of Family Guy and Comedy Central news shows, these forms of satire are able to stay relevant. But, despite the change in medium, the purpose of satire and effect of satire holds true. Modern satire, just as that of past satire, sheds light on the problems of our society through ridicule and mockery, without reinforcing and further cementing the stereotypes and prejudices they are trying to expose.

The death penalty is a prosecute that is used to kill criminals that have committed crimes that are so bad they should not be left alive. The idea of putting another human to death is hard to completely fathom. The physical mechanics involved in the act of execution are easy to grasp, but the emotions involved in carrying out a death sentence on another person, regardless of how much they deserve it, is beyond my understanding. Knowing that it must be painful, dehumanizing, and sickening. The Eight Amendment says” Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (Constitutions). And for the article Changing Views on\\e rate has gone down at a steady from the 1990 to now and that they death penalty is sometimes necessary, and it is our responsibility as a society to see that it is done.