The Legal Ordering Of The Xix

Change over time; that is a common theme with everything in the world. The concept of punishment is no different in that regard. In the 16th and 17th century the common view for punishing people was retaliation from the king and to be done in the town square. In what seemed to be all of a sudden, there was a change in human thinking, the concept of punishment changed to a more psychological approach compared to a public embarrassment/torture approach. The following paragraphs will discuss the development of prisons and what in fact gives people gives people the right to punish; as well as the overall meaning and function of prisons. The work by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison will help with the arguments

Throughout the years, the use of imprisonment has varied, along with its influences of society. It is thought that although prisons have been around since the thirteenth century, prisons as we know them now to be have only been around for the last three centuries. The first uses of prisons were not seen as a form of punishment instead they were used as a way of making people do something. People would be held in prison until they paid their debts, or awaiting trial and then leading up to their sentence. McGowen (1995) suggests that from the early 1700s ‘bridewells’ a house of correction have existed, however at that time being used merely for vagrants and drunks. At the end of the sixteenth century there was a shift in punishment to imprisonment, along with this came a new, more humane idea of reform. Criminals would spend their days of prison carrying out hard labour. However after the American Revolution, imprisonment took a step back and there was another change. There was mass overcrowding within the prison service and although the death penalty was still being used it was a symbol of the power of the state. Therefore, an everyday way of dealing with offenders would be transportation to the colonies, being either Australia or America.

Criminology is a field that has been researched prolong. Most of the information explaining crime and delinquency is based on facts about crime (Vold, Bernard, & Daly 2002, p.1). The aim of this paper is to describe the theories of crime and punishment according to the positivists Emile Durkheim and Cesare Lombroso, and the classical criminologist Marcese de Beccaria. The theories were developed as a response to the industrialisation and the modernisation of the societies in the 18th and 19th centuries and were aiming to create a rational society and re-establish social solidarity (Vold et al 2002, p.101). The criminological perspectives of crime and punishment will be discussed in a form of dialogue between the three theorists exploring

The Penitentiary Era 1790 to 1825 mass prison building era housed many prisoners with the goals of rehabilitation; deterrence and allowing the inmates to work during the day and when they returned were put into solitary confinement (Ortmeier 2006, 391). This new era was too focused on making prisoners think about their crimes and learn skills in workshops and general labor to reenter society as a productive member. Capital and corporal punishment were looked down upon by many and they did not actually fix the problems of rising crime. Often time’s prisoners were held in a large jail cells, men and women alike that resulted in rape and fighting among each other. The strengths of this era looked to keep prisoners safe and at times lessen

The ideal of imprisonment did not exist during the colonial time. The penitentiary system was a nineteenth-century invention. The colonial, period was hierarchical, and the servants were supposed to be kept in place.

In society, things are not as they seem at times. The criminal justice system was created to help deter crime and to punish those who break the law. Laws are put in place to be fair to all citizens. Your economic situation, gender, race should not become a factor for you to be given “due process”. Years have come and gone and the crime rates increases and decreases with the years. There have been many senseless killings and everyone has their point of view as to the causes. The focal point of this report will be the findings from the readings of, “The rich get richer and the poor get prison by Jeffery Reimer and Paul Livingston”. I will discuss the causes of the rise and fall of the many different types of crimes ; why the rise and fall of crime rates; what contribution has the criminal justice and or police system has contributed whether positive or negative; and lastly discuss which economic group ends up in prison and why.

Prison reform was a viable aspect of the Reform Movements in the 1800s. Reformers wanted to evidently punish prisoners but they also wanted to make sure they maintained a sense of humanity. They did this by reconstructing prison systems, seeking ways to treat the mentally ill and more. Document A highlights the importance of good treatment to prisoners in order for them to be rescued and eventually work to become viable members of society. This document

The judicial system incarcerate based on crimes leading to punishment within the penal system. Although crime has reduced since 1990, the population in these facilities have risen immensely. The intervention of these negative behaviors have lead to disparities within the prison complex. The contribution to prevent and dismay the activity leading to convictions and crime should be conquered through adequate programs. The goal of prevention should be to educate, acknowledge and be an activist. My thesis is do these crimes committed outweigh or justify, their degrading treatment in prison and how does mass incarceration affect us as a society?

By now the number of prisoners was increasing partly due to the decline in other forms of punishment, such as the stocks and branding, which were now viewed as outdated. Nevertheless many people still believed that prison should be concerned with punishment and deterrence, rather than the rehabilitation of criminals which was viewed as costly (Todd, 2002, p.119). In 1842 Pentonville prison was built using the panopticon design. This meant that each prisoner was now held in their own individual cell. Pentonville operated on the ‘separate system' which involved almost total solitary confinement and elements such as education and work were largely ignored (www.howardleague.org/studycentre/historyofprison.htm).

James Gilligan relays an enlightening message in his article, Beyond the Prison Paradigm: From Provoking Violence to Preventing It by Creating “Anti-Prisons”, about the history and sole purpose of jails. Gilligan dates his research about jails all the way back from the first civilization known to man, Sumerian, to the jails we see and know so well today. At the beginning of time jails literally meant “house of darkness” which when compared to any of today’s jails is very similar to our maximum security facilities with solitary confinement. Jails were first used as a place to house those citizens, who chose not follow the social norms of society, and used a very

The state prisons today were founded on the basis of the 1700s to 1800’s during the Age of Enlightenment. The English correctional facility referred to as a “gaol,” commonly known as a jail. They housed men, women, children, the mentally ill along with the civil and criminals. The individuals suffered from idleness, diseases, despair and malnutrition. The gaols were maintained by local authorities, classification did not exist, and the purpose of gaol was to detain or hold people for court.

The sociological conflict perspective views state of clash and struggle between haves and haves-not in all societies and cultures of the world (Turner, 1978:160). Being the essential part of society, the same conflict could also be found in prisons, where the strong, powerful and affluent prisoners treat the weak, feeble and poor prisoners to be their slaves. The haves not only force the haves-not to remain at their service, but also increase the intensity of criminal aptitude among them. Sexual exploitation serves as the most heinous crime practiced within the prisons, where the weak prisoners are assaulted, tortured and raped by the influential prisoners as well as the members of prison administration. Such a state of affair multiplies the sense of crime among the prisoners, which intend to carry on committing crimes after their release from prison in order to take revenge of cruelties inflicted upon them by the powerful stratum of society in jails. Somehow, it is not the case in every prison, as some of the prisons strictly discourage the exploitation of the weak at the hands of the

The system strove to develop from a primitive incarceration project to a vast unprecedented network for the suppression, containment, exploitation, and extermination of millions of people of various nationalities who were designated as enemies of the state or as members of a nonhuman or inferior population.9

Foucault address the changing definition of crime and how power is exerted through the enforcement of punishment. During the monarchy, kings and queens showed their power and authority of the people by determining what punishment someone would receive for their actions. In the current political system, judges and juries are in the position to make these decisions. Judgement is the current system is based on motives and intent rather than on the severity of the crime alone. We care more about the psychological state of the individual and want to be able to change the person's soul to better respect society. The quote below addresses how punishment uses a variety of specializations and how the individual's mental state is molded to fit into standards we have created today.

The “pains of imprisonment” can be divided into five main conditions that attack the inmate’s personality and his feeling of self-worth. The deprivations are as follows: The deprivation of liberty, of goods and services, of heterosexual relationships, autonomy and of security.