Purpose & History of Penitentiaries

Purpose & History of Penitentiaries

History of Punishment

The first legal record of punishment in the Middle East is found in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi. However, it seems that Western nation followed the laws began by Ancient Rome. Before long, each city had a court and had developed their laws to punish the culprits and thereby protect the citizens. Soon the Roman Empire developed the Law of Twelve Tables to protect their society. But research indicates that the earliest form of punishment can be found in the twelve centuries that is called the Justinian Code (Roth, 2010).

For centuries, people has been punished and died for committing rape, theft, or other unspeakable crimes. The Constitio Criminals was created by the Holy Roman Empire in 1532 in order to punish the criminals. They developed their own laws for punishment, since not every country was following these laws. For the most part, punishment was used to punish as well as deter the would-be criminals. Due to the creation of new punishments with each passing century, life became more civilized. People felt safer with the laws in place for punishment that could protect them. Each country started hiring sheriffs and developing proper legal systems to deal with the punishments of criminals (Miethe & Lu, 2005). Thus, different countries started with different laws and levels of punishment, but with the passage of time, each country has developed laws for punishment in order to protect their citizens and establish more civilized societies.

History of Prison Development

Before the 1700s, prisons were virtually nonexistent as they were not considered a serious punishment for crime and therefore hardly ever used. Instead those people are imprisoned by the government who were awaiting the punishment or trial whereupon they would receive the more common corporal or capital types of punishment. At that time, common punishments included branding, whipping, imposing fines, and the death penalty (capital punishment). Most offenders were punished by the authorities in public for discouraging people from breaking the law; where, it falls under the theory of deterrence (Morris, 1998).

However, French and English rulers used to keep their political enemies imprisoned in prisons such as the Bastille in Paris or the Tower of London. Besides, culprits who owed money were also held in debtors' prisons, and in such cases the families of offenders could stay with them or visit them. However, the debtors had to stay ...