1. The Early History of Correctional Thought and Practice
Chapter 2
The Early History of Correctional Thought and Practice

2. Legal bases of punishment
Lex talionis
law of retaliation
punishment should correspond in degree & kind to the offense
“eye for an eye”
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

3. “benefit of clergy” religion: early source of leniency
definition
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”

4. 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
galley slavery
used as a reprieve from gallows
imprisonment
historically, used mostly for:
political prisoners
those awaiting trial
debtors

5. Vagrancy Act of 1597 (England)
by 1772: 60% male English felons: banished!
: 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

6. 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 pop’s
plus orphans, insane

7. early jails = bad! combination: workhouse, poorhouse, jail
mixed men, women, children
conditions = abysmal!
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”

8. 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

9. replicated in Europe; more successful
impact of Bridewell
replicated in Europe; more successful
Holland, Germany
France (Maison de Force, in Ghent, 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)

10. 19th/20th Centuries saw VARIETY of social experiments re: punishment
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 …

11. 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

12. 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…

13. 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 (eg, 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

14. 4. values of the Enlightenment
’s: English/French social/political writers popularized certain “progressive” concepts, eg:
Liberalism
Rationality
Equality
Individualism
Limitations on the power of government
Scientific inquiry….

15. Enlightenment … (con’d)
 created new popular belief in:
rights of man
importance of individual
concept of free will
role of government: limited! protect rights!
eg, Hobbes:
“life in state of nature…[bad]”
government/society formed to protect man from hardships of total independence
eg, Locke, Montesque:
government as “social contract”
man gives up rights & enters into union w/ others for mutual benefit/protection

16. 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”

17. 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 …

18. Cesare Beccaria ( )
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

19. 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”
 “utilitariansim” (though Beccaria not thought of as father of utilitarianism)

20. 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

21. 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
eg, Western State Penitentiary (Pitt, 1825); Stateville (Ill, 1916)

22. Bentham’s “panopticon”

23. “utilitarianism”
definition
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.”

24. 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

25. John Howard ( )
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 $$ (eg, 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….

26. 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

27. 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)

28. Penitentiary: an idea with universal appeal:
legalists  deter crime
philanthropists  save humanity
conservatives  save money (inmate-produced products)
politicians  solution to disquieting prison situation
industrialists  new way of disciplining/ training new working class to serve industrial society; (eg, John Conley-revisionist historian)

29. emergence of the penitentiary in America
reform ideas didn’t materialize in England until 1842; Pentonville, North London
but, quickly took root in colonies; 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)