A Brief History of Punishments

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Table of Contents

History of punishments
History of prison development
Comparison of the Pennsylvania system and the auburn system
Pennsylvania system
Impacts of prison labor
References

History of punishments

Punishments have been in existence since the year 2700BC. This practice was rampant in civilized communities. These punishments were accorded to people caught committing crime and other forms of social evils. In both the Quran and the Bible there is various evidence of punishment (Edge 2009). People were mostly punished as a result of committing capital crimes. These crimes included murder, sex related crimes, involvement in witchcraft and adultery. The methods used for punishment were very brutal and barbaric. The following are some of the most common forms of punishments used in those early days;

Beheading

This was a common practice in England where the heads off criminals would be completely cut off using swords or axes.

Hanging

The person to be hanged was forced to stand on top of a ladder and it would then be pulled off, leaving the criminal being strangled to death.

Mutilation

Mutilation was a common form of punishment in the early days. Mutilation involved cutting off, various parts of the body. This was very brutal as sometimes the person would be left handicapped. This was a traumatizing experience as a lot of people lost their lives.

Canning

The cane was also used as a form of punishment. It had been mostly used in educational facilities to instill discipline. In those early days teachers had been allowed to cane their students due to gross misconduct. It was however, abolished in most schools as teachers abused this form of punishment (Lyons 2008). Canning was not only used in educational facilities, as pretty criminals would also face the cane. Canning was done in front of a crowd of people to discourage them from committing the same crime.

Others

Crucifixion, banishment, stoning, slavery, prison, public executions, dungeons, lethal injection and hard labor were some of the other types of punishment methods used in ancient times ( Edge 2009).

History of prison development

Until the year 1700 prisons had not been in existence. People did not consider imprisonment as a severe punishment to teach criminals a lesson. Imprisonment was however, frequently used by countries such as France and England.. The Bastille in France and the Tower of England served as prisons for political detainees. Others who were imprisoned were the debtors. Their stay in these prisons was however short lived as they would be released once they had cleared their debts.

In the 1970s people were up in arms against the other brutal punishments that were being used. There had previously existed correction houses which had been used to instill discipline among the criminals in the society, these facilities were considered to be the most effective way to bring about change amongst criminals. However, these prisons were facing various issues. Poor sanitation proved to be among the issues bedeviling these institutions. Gender and other considerations had not been carefully looked at, when these institutions were being set up (Lyons 2008).

Comparison of the Pennsylvania system and the auburn system

It was in the 18^th century that governments saw the need of overhaul the old prison houses in order to address some of the issues they had been facing. It was then, that new state of the art correctional facilities were constructed. There emerged different systems used to confine the criminals

Pennsylvania system

This system was introduced to reform the inmates by way of solitary confinement. The Philadelphian society introduced this system (Lyons 2008). The aim had been to improve the lives of the prisoners. In order to minimize contact amongst prisoners, the prisoners would be confined in solitary cells. With time the system turned out to be expensive and called for modifications. The auburn system was introduced. This system greatly differed from the Pennsylvania system. Under this system the inmates would interact more. Hard labor was introduced as it was believed it would reform the inmates. As a result, the prisons would earn some form of income. Auburn system was adopted as the relevant authorizes saw it as an opportunity for the prisoners to gain vital skills. Through this system uniforms were introduced to help identify prisoners with ease. The auburn system has however under gone a lot of changes with advancements in humanity.

Impacts of prison labor

The introduction of labor in prisons has had various impacts. They can be divided into social and economic impacts.

Economic impacts

The prisoners while in prison are involved in various activities which can be said to boost the economy (Lyons 2008). Most prisoners are involved in the making of important goods that a country cannot do without. Number plates are among these goods the prisoners help manufacture. The inmates would earn some money as they would be paid for their services

Social impacts

The prisoners idle time is reduced while they are performing these tasks. They are also able to improve their social lives by learning various life skills.

References

Edge, L. B. (2009). Locked up: a history of the U.S. prison system. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books.

Lyons, L. (2008). The history of punishment. London: Amber Books.

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