Transcript Document
Chapter 2
The Early History of
Correctional Thought
and Practice
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
The Early History of Correctional Thought
and Practice
From the Middle Ages to the American Revolution
Galley Slavery
Imprisonment
Transportation
Corporal Punishment
On the Eve of Reform
The Age of Reason and Correctional Reform
Cesare Beccaria and the Classical School
Jeremy Bentham and the “Hedonic Calculus”
John Howard and the Birth of Penitentiary
What Really Motivated Correctional Reform?
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Legal bases of punishment
Lex talionis
law of retaliation
punishment should
correspond in degree &
kind to the offense
“Eye for an eye and a
tooth for a tooth”
Secular law- middle ages
law of civil society (vs.
church law) developed
along feudal system
feudal lords went to war
over each others’
transgressions
Wergild- “man money”
money paid to relatives of a murdered person or
to crime victim as compensation
to prevent blood feuds
carried view that punishment should involve
participation of public
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
“benefit of clergy”
religion: early source of leniency
members of clergy could be tried
in
ecclesiastical court, where punishments
less severe than in civil courts
(focus of ecclesiastical court = penance & salvation)
available from 1200’s-1827 to anyone who
could “read” text of Psalm 54 in court-ostensibly “proved” membership in clergy
common thugs availed themselves of the
“benefit” by reciting verse from memory
Psalm 54 came to be known as “neck verse”
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
punishments in transition:
from old world penitentiary
corporal punishments (by various means)
death (by various means)
England’s specific contributions:
transportation (banishment)
prescribed by Vagrancy Act of 1597
used as a reprieve from gallows
historically, used mostly for:
galley
slavery
imprisonment
political prisoners
those awaiting trial
debtors
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Vagrancy Act of 1597 (England)
by
1772: 60% male English felons: banished!
1718-1776: 1,000 felons/yr. (n = 50,000)
Virginia (1606)
convicts were given over to companies that had
shipped them to colonies & sold their services
(per 1717 law)
Australia & New S. Wales (after revolution)
felons served Crown/designee for # of years
then, freed (via pardon or “ticket of leave”)
could then choose place of work
banishment
= consistent w/ social realities
of time - response to social
disorder/upheaval
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
early jails = product of
social upheaval of 16th century England
manufacturing economy (not agrarian)
breakup of feudalism (serfs, lords, manor)
1,000’s rural poor (wandering country)
urbanization (movement to cities)
consequences:
poverty, homelessness, helplessness, idleness,
illness, beggars, prostitution, crime
jails = melting pot of dysfunctional population
plus orphans, insane
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
early jails = bad!
combination: workhouse, poorhouse,
mixed men, women, children
conditions = abysmal!
jail
filth
squalor
malnutrition
predatory environment
reform “house
of correction”
combined elements of all three institutions
emphasis: put idle poor to work!
from thinking of Protestant Reformation
“an idle mind is the devil’s workshop”
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Bridewell House
1st house of correction (1553)
objective:
“to instill a habit of industry more
conducive to an honest livelihood”
strategies:
discipline + work!
products to be sold on open market
facility to be self sufficient
failure...
facilities filled w/criminals
physically deteriorated
not profitable
reformative aim vanished
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
impact of Bridewell
replicated
in Europe; more successful
Holland, Germany
France (Maison de Force, in Ghent, 1772 - wheel)
Italy (Milan House of Corrections, 1775)
these
became precursors to 19th C.
prisons in America
they impressed John Howard,
English reformer
Howard brought ideas back to
England! (popularized in colonies)
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
What we will see…
19th/20th
Centuries saw VARIETY of social
experiments re: punishment
based on variety of competing social/political
philosophies from 18th, 19th centuries
witnessed
general TREND away from
brutality of ancient & middle ages
these developments stemmed generally
from 5 major social, economic, political, &
religious trends …
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
1. breakdown of feudal order &
move industrial society
elimination
of class of serfs bound
by birth to service of Lord of the
manor
demise of agriculture
population moves to urban centers
rise of middle class
emergence of trades; commerce
seeds of industrial revolution
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
2. ideas of the
Protestant Reformation
Martin
Luther (1599): man is capable of
interpreting Bible (w/o Pope);
elevated man to new status of free thinker
weakened political/economic
power of Roman Catholic Church
weakened Church’s role in
definition/punishment of errant citizens
weakened Church’s role in creation &
administration of law…
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
3. emergence of
secular legal systems
new
legal systems were developed by
civilian authority to protect the interests of
independent parties other than the church
new systems (e.g., courts) came to be
administered by non-religious authorities
Exemplified by Anglican Church/ of
England; Henry VIII’s break from Pope;
A Man for All Seasons
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
4. values of the Enlightenment
1600-1700’s:
English/French
social/political writers popularized
certain “progressive” concepts, e.g.:
Liberalism
Rationality
Equality
Individualism
Limitations
on the power of
government
Scientific inquiry….
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Enlightenment … (con’d)
rights of man
importance of individual
concept of free will
role of government: limited! protect rights!
e.g., Hobbes:
created new popular belief in:
“life in state of nature…[bad]”
government/society formed to protect man from
hardships of total independence
e.g., Locke, Montesque:
government as “social contract”
man gives up rights & enters into union w/ others
for mutual benefit/protection
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
5. age of science & reason
we
are capable of discovering why & how
things happen
the world operates according to rules
we can use science & reason to discover
those rules that govern behavior (of both
universe & man)
Galileo: universe behaves according to
predictable patterns
Newton: matter & motion governed by certain
“laws of physics”
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
result: entirely new ways
of viewing world
new
beliefs re:
nature of man & human behavior
faith in our ability to change people
the relation of man to society
belief in the rights of man
equality of treatment (less brutality)
limited power of state
new
schools of thought re: crime &
punishment (popularized by writers)
Beccaria, Bentham
Howard …
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Cesare Beccaria (1738 - 1794)
Father:
classical school of criminology
Italian scholar; applied rationalist
philosophy of Enlightenment to CJS
Essays on Crimes & Punishments,
1764
writings revolutionized thinking re:
role of law, criminal punishment, &
operation of CJS
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
classical school of criminology:
beliefs
man has free will
crime is volitional (willed, intentional)
man can change his behavior
man should be punished in proportion
to the severity of the crime he
commits
the basis of all social action should be
the utilitarian concept: “the greatest
good for the greatest number”
“utilitarianism” (though Beccaria not
thought of as father of utilitarianism)
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
principles of classical school
sole justification for punishment is its utility-the safety it provides via crime prevention
punishment is for deterrence, not revenge
prevention > important than punishment
punishment should be the least possible,
punishment proportionate, dictated by law
certainty/swiftness > important than severity
advocated penal reforms:
avoid torture & secret accusations
right to speedy trial & to present evidence
humane treatment; improve prison conditions
classify offenders: age, sex, degree of criminality
Pa.
penal law, penitentiary movement
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Jeremy Bentham (1748 - 1832)
father
of utilitarianism
English advocate of prison reform
Intro. to the Principles of Morals & Legislation, 1789
applied
utilitarian theory to law &
punishment
founder of “panopticon” prison design
circular building with glass roof;
cells around circumference, on each story
e.g., Western State Penitentiary (Pitt, 1825);
Stateville (Ill, 1916)
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
“utilitarianism”
doctrine that the aim of all action
should be the greatest possible
balance of pleasure over pain. This
will create the “greatest good for the
greatest number.”
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Bentham … (con’d)
“hedonic calculus” = pleasure/pain principle
key concept in utilitarianism
rational persons behave in ways to maximize
pleasure, minimize pain
law should assure that offender will derive more pain
from punishment than pleasure from crime
advocated reforms:
goal of law: prevent, not avenge crime
eliminate barbarity, inconsistency in punishment
abolish transportation
segregate by age, sex, seriousness
improve morals, health, education of prisoners
religious services; keep prisoners busy
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
John Howard (1726 - 1790)
The State of Prisons in England & Wales, 1777
(major) English penal reformer
middle class, country squire, social activist
appointed Sheriff of Bedfordshire, 1773;
but unique: took active interest!
visited local facilities; shocked by conditions
most jailers of time: non-professional, unsalaried
appointees - indifferent to care/conditions
collected $$ (e.g., discharge fees) from inmates
overcrowding, no discipline, unsanitary (“prison
fever”- typhus - killed 1,000’s)
visited hulks, houses of corr. in Eng/Eur
returned with ideas for reform….
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Howard … (con’d)
drafted
Penitentiary Act of 1779;
with Blackstone & Eden
4 principles:
secure & sanitary structure
systematic inspection
abolition of fees
reformatory regimen
features:
solitary cells at night
hard labor in common rooms
by day;
aim --> Drudgery!
religious instruction & reflection
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
effect of Howard’s work:
slow to catch on in England
colonies much more susceptible
new ways of thinking in America:
Declaration of Independence &
US Constitution championed:
optimistic view of man
belief in human perfectibility
belief that crime = f (environment)
individual rights
limitations on power/authority of gov’t
by-products of this thinking:
need to reform of harsh penal codes/punishments
Mass (1785); Pa (1786); NY (1796)
preference for incarceration (+ hard labor)
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
Penitentiary: an idea with
universal appeal
legalists
philanthropists
conservatives
politicians
industrialists
deter
crime
save humanity
save money
(inmate-produced products)
solution to disquieting
prison situation
new way of disciplining/
training new working class to
serve industrial society;
(e.g., John Conley-revisionist historian)
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th
emergence of the penitentiary in
America
reform
ideas didn’t materialize in England
until 1842: Pentonville, North London
but, quickly took root in colonies and laid
groundwork for look & operation of
American penitentiary
Walnut St. Jail, 1790
portion of jail was converted to place of separate
confinement in 1790
quickly overcrowded
Eastern State Penitentiary (Cherry Hill, 1829)
Western State Penitentiary (Pittsburgh, 1825)
Clear & Cole, American Corrections, 8th