Roots Of Us Prisons

To try to prevent crime from occurring some believed that making the punishments severe would slow the growth of crime. The punishments you would receive, varied on how bad the crime was that you committed. If you were accused for adultery or manslaughter, you were more than likely punished with a whipping or branding. When punished with a whipping the number of hits usually varied between 10 to 30. When committing adultery, you usually were required 30 hits with the whip and a hot iron brand to the forehead. You were also made to wear something around your neck showing the crime you committed. These punishments were usually for men, women were normally sent to workhouses. Hanging was also a big punishment in the 1800s. Hangings were found to be entertainment and multiple people received a job during a hanging. (Source 2, Page 101) When hanging got out of hand, they began to send the criminals to other colonies to serve their sentences. They found that it was much cheaper than holding them in the English prisons where they were overcrowded and the traveling had to be paid for. The 1800s is known to be the worst of crime because of the increase of population and the issues with wealth. Escapes were very common because the jails were overflowing and it was too much for the people to keep up with. Not only were adults at risk but children of any age were too because society was so bad. As time moved along some of the

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

The type of punishments rendered were “fines, confiscation of property, beheading, stoning, hanging, crucifixion, boiling and burning, flogging, and placement in the stocks or pillory (Bohm & Haley, 2014, p. 256). Banishment and transportation, the act of taking the accused from his home to other places for him to perform physical labor, were also forms of punishment (Bohm & Haley, 2014). Officials would achieve optimum humiliation on the accused by carrying out their punishment in the busiest public places at the busiest time of day (Ziel, 2005). Not only were punishments carried out in public during this period, the laws also required the accused to confess their wrongdoings publicly (Ziel,

Some other punishments were leather strap used on to hit anywhere on the body, beating with fists, and until unconscious, burning and scalding the hands, starvation, public

More people have been locked up in the United States than any other country. In the article “Prison Industrial Complex Economics”, it states, “the United States has approximately 6.5 million people under the criminal justice supervision. Incarcerated rate has grown from 176 in 1973 up to 700 in the year of 2000” (Waquant). Incarceration is a big business that feeds into drug violence, corrupted guards, and racism in criminal justice system, taxpayer cost, and racism in the criminal system and through privatization of prisons.

Public shaming has been around for a long time. Back in the 1700s it was very popular, especially with the Puritans. Literature such as Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible show examples of such public shaming and punishments. Hester Prynne is made an example by the colony’s leaders by forcing her to wear a red A on her clothing. By doing this along with public hangings seen in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, people would follow the rules because they do not want to end up like the example set before them. Although there are not public hangings like in The Crucible, at least not in America, there are still forms of public shaming that are sentenced by courts. Public shaming as a punishment to criminals can be fair and just depending upon the crime and whether the judge takes things too far; it can also be effective in making the criminal not want to do what he did again.

In “Remodeling American Sentencing: A Ten-Step Blueprint for Moving past Mass Incarceration,” the author shows how imprisonment is harsher and tougher in the United States than any other western country. He also mentions how unfair, severe and ineffective they are on reducing crime rates; and mentions changes in the sentences in the future. Tonry states that the United States locks up seven to ten times more of its citizens than other western countries, or that many states spend more on prisons than on education (Tonry 504). So what the country did to the rise of crime rates was it passed harsher laws and built more and larger prisons. However, European countries dealt with this same problem differently. Their governments reduced

“One out of every 31 Americans (7 Million) are in prison, jail, or some other form of correctional supervision. A high incarceration rate in the United States has led to the prison-industrial complex, which has provided jobs and profits to legions of companies and people. The field of corrections is big business.”1 I believe that this fact is the best way in which to start my paper. The main idea of corrections, as the name suggests, is to correct the behavior that has caused an offender to stray from the straight and narrow. However, as our prison population grows and recidivism rates increase we are not only seeing our prison system fail, but we are seeing a new and emerging industry take hold in this country. Increasing prison populations and the number of re-offenders is showing a relatively obvious failure of the current system. In my time as a criminal justice major I have taken a variety of classes on criminal justice, one of the most interesting for me (aside from this class) was restorative justice. In my restorative justice class I was introduced to the idea that the criminal justice system was taking the conflict away from the victim and the community and was focusing too much on punishment and not enough on rehabilitation. I understand that some people feel that restorative justice is too lenient, that by allowing offenders to bypass jail restorative justice gives them a pass and allows them to basically get away with an offense, however restorative

In America, there are fundamental principles upon which our nation is built. Beliefs that all Americans naturally possess the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness seem all pervasive. Today in America, equality encompasses religion, sexual orientation, race, and everything in between. These values have become so intrinsic to the modern human condition that the mind shirks from the prospect of denying them to anyone. However, it seems that certain areas of American society have become exempt from the moral imperative that is upholding these basic and fundamental rights. It has become brutally obvious that private prisons have failed to respect the humanity of their inmates, which is why the United States Federal Government should

In our nation’s history, the use of private prisons has played a major role in domestic slave trading. The 13th Amendment officially abolished slavery in 1865. However, due to the plain language of the 13th Amendment, it is be interpreted in a way that allows slavery so long as it is used as criminal punishment. The 13th Amendment reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Private prisons have been abusing and misusing this language for years. The Jim Crowe era, which implemented the “convict leasing” system, is a prime example of how private prisons have used prisoners

EMBED QUOTE " The greatest and most grievous punishment used in England […] where they are hanged till they be half dead, and then takes down, and quartered alive; after that, their members and bowels are cut from their bodies, and thrown into a fire, provided near hand and within their own sight, even for the same purpose."(JIIOJIIHIJLJ). This shows how severe their punishments. there were many punishments that hsfkasdhjgfljsagfdjhs. The drunkard's cloak was a popular punishment for public drunkenness. It is where a person is to wear a barrel with holes cut out for their arms and head and would like a shirt. They are forced to walk around town and be publicly humiliated. The scold's bridle is a punishment for women who gossiped or were dishonest and it was a cage-like contraption that was worn on the head that would cause injury if they talked. The ducking stool was also a device to punish women and it was a stool attached to a log that would immerse the woman into the water. Other punishments that were used during this time was hanging, burning, the pillory, whipping, branding, cutting off various body parts, pressing,

Such as perjury for perjury people were placed in stocks with their ears nailed “ most torture ended in physical maiming” (Langbrint 4). You could be tortured for Perjury, Adultery, bigamy, Manslaughter and so on but later on every punishment was replaced by hanging it was replaced around the 1820 with public hanging

Because of this law, and the fact that it was pass under Bill Clinton administration, the prison population skyrocket in America personal increase by 1600% (13th).

For centuries governments have acted on behalf of society removing and punishing criminals with the goal of protecting its citizens. Criminals were arrested and locked-up in jails awaiting their sentencing. Once sentenced, they were publically humiliated, tortured, or killed. Early forms punishments were cruel and mostly focused on retribution.

Imprisonment as punishment for crimes was first used during the sixteenth century in Europe. Prior to that, criminal correction usually consisted of enslavement or swift physical punishment such as whipping or execution. According to