NCJ Number
138512
Date Published
1992
Length
243 pages
Annotation
The tools of several historical subdisciplines are applied to explore the rise of the penitentiary in America and to present a comprehensive picture of its origin and development.
Abstract
The State of Massachusetts, which established the first statewide program for criminal incarceration following independence, is presented as a case study of the transformation to incarceration as punishment. The ideological foundations for criminal incarceration were laid long before the 18th century and were based upon old criminological theories. The social conditions of increasing urbanization and population mobility fostered rampant crime and suggested the penitentiary as an attractive alternative to postrevolutionary legislatures. Little evidence is available to support possible economic motives for incarcerating criminals and sentencing them to hard labor. Penitentiary advocates intended only that the prison pay for itself through enforced labor. The book concludes that whatever the administrative achievements of the penitentiary advocates, it is unclear that this punishment ever truly offered promise as a substantive solution to the problem of crime. 1,026 notes