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Chapter 2 / Clear and Cole: Early History
(VERY SHORT CHAPTER):
Chapter 2 begins by discussing the early history of corrections and the
underlying philosophies. The intent is to show how ideologies (our term)
and views of punihsment have changed over the centuries.
Some early methods of punishment:
This history of FORMAL punishment goes back to Sumer/Mesopotamia (c. 3100 bc)
and later to Hammurabi (Babylon, c. 1750 bc)
--Galley Slavery
--Prisons (but a different purpose and form than emerged in the 19th century)
--"Transportation" (to other countries) and "hulks" (England)
--Punishing the body (corporal/capital punishment)
Some terms:
--Lex Talionius: Law of retaliation; (eye for an eye)
--jails (primarily, in the old days, to hold detainees, debtors, vagrants)
--House of correction: Combined major elements of workhous,
poorhouse, andpenal industry both by disciplining inmates
and setting them to work
--Secular law (civil society, as distinguished from religious)
--Benefit of Clergy - the right to be tried in an ecclesiastical
court where punishments were less severe than those meeted out
by civil courts (from early middle ages (1200) - church
protected right to punish those who violated its laws and
sometimes gave
AGE OF REASON (1700s, but roots were earlier)
Rise of RULE OF LAW
Know the Classical school:
Point: Rationalist philosopy and "weighted" punishments (see Cesare
Beccaria (1764) and six principles underlying his reforms:
a) Basis of all social action must be the utilitarian concept
b) Crime is an injury to society, and the only rational measure
of crime is the extent of the injury
c) Prevention of crime more important than punishment; laws and
punishments must be codified
d) Secret accusations and tortue must be abolished (advocated rights)
e) Purpose of punishment is deterrence, not revenge. Punishment must be:
a) Swift (celerity), b) Certainty and c) Calculated
f) More use of punishment, and it should be rational and humane
Some forms of isolation:
--Gallery Slavery: From Ancient Rome through middle ages
--"Transportation"
--Imprisonment: In 1500s, but as we know it, early 19th century
Bentham's "Hedonic Calculus" - Utilitarian; "costs-benefits"; He
developed the panopticon
John Howard: (JHA) - A Sheriff in England (Bedforshire). A major
force behind the penitentiary act of 1770 (in england/house of
commons).
From all this comes the emergence of our own prison system in the 1800s.
(TO CHAPTER 3)
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