Crime, Punishment, Poverty, Health, and Welfare

Transcription

1 The Enlightenment (HI174) Crime, Punishment, Poverty, Health, and Welfare 23 January

2 Introduction Changing ideas toward criminals and poor begins in the Enlightenment and continues into the 19th century Marginalised members of society less vilified, more attempts to distinguish between deserving and undeserving A clearer distinction between medicine and poor relief 2

3 Crime and Punishment Early Modern Prison Modern Era Emphasis on corporal and capital punishment and non-physical shaming (ex. stocks) Prisons mainly used for remand and debtors Move toward imprisonment rather than physical punishment Occurs throughout Western world; major building campaign in 19th century 3

4 Cesare Beccaria ( ) On Crimes and Punishments (1764), English translation published 1767 Advocates for reform of the criminal law system Condemned torture and the death penalty Founding work for the field of penology 4

5 No man can be judged a criminal until he be found guilty; nor can society take from him the public protection, until it have been proved that he has violated the conditions on which it was granted. What right, then, but that of power, can authorise the punishment of a citizen, so long as there remains any doubt of his guilt? The dilemma is frequent. Either he is guilty, or not guilty. If guilty, he should only suffer the punishment ordained by the laws, and torture becomes useless, as his confession is unnecessary. If he be not guilty, you torture the innocent; for, in the eye of the law, every man is innocent, whose crime has not been proved. Cesare Beccaria,

6 Jeremy Bentham ( ) Moral Philosophy Doctrine of Utilitarianism Principle of the greatest happiness of the greatest number Outspoken advocate of law reform Writing on poor relief, animal welfare, and prison reform 6

7 Bentham s Panopticon a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind, in a quantity hitherto without example. - J. Bentham

8 Eastern State Penitentiary - Designed by John Haviland - Opens

9 Pentonville Prison Opens

10 Discipline, Punish, and Panopticism Panopticism is social theory named after Bentham s Panopticon Panopticism developed by Michel Foucault in Discipline and Punish (1975) Systematic ordering and controlling of human population through subtle and unseen forces 10

11 He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribes in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection. - Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish 11

12 Reformers and Political Change John Howard ( ) Penitentiary Act (1779) Elizabeth Fry ( ) Gaols Act (1823) Prisons Act (1835) 12

13 Workhouse 13

14 Poor Law System of poor relief in England and Wales Elizabethan Poor Law (1601) and ambiguity between alms houses and houses of correction Poor Law Amendment Act (1834) resulted from 1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of Poor Laws Importance of Poor Law declined with rise of welfare state in 20th century 14

15 Birth of the Modern Hospital Early Modern Hospital Enlightenment Hospital Hospitals distributed food and clothing to the poor, provided shelter to the homeless, and offered medical care Clearer distinction between medicine and poor relief Staffed with trained surgeons Religious aspect of patient care Provided only medical services Secular 15

16 Conclusions Re-examinations of attitudes towards marginal peoples during the Enlightenment Reform efforts directed at rehabilitation, moral reform, changing/shaping attitudes Spread of ideas aided by Enlightenment tradition to publish and circulate texts Foundation of modern ideas of welfare and criminality 16

17 histprisonhealth.com