Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Looking back: changing ideas of punishment
The penal codes of ancient Greece (the Draconian Code imposed the death penalty for every offence)
Justice Old Testament style
18th-century prison reform – rehabilitation for the good of society and the individual

Chapter 2: Throwing away the key: imprisonment Work in prisons: the types of tasks carried out
Modern prisons: paying prisoners for work; provisions for education and training Open prisons -- a more flexible environment
Young offender institutions

Chapter 3: Deportation Beginning in the 17th century, the process of transporting convicted felons to the colonies was continued for 200 years
The formation of a “convict society” in Australia

Chapter 4: Corporal punishment Corporal punishment evolved largely from old beliefs in vengeance
Different methods: flogging, branding, mutilation (e.g. cutting thieves’ hands off) Modern instances, e.g. in Saudi Arabia and Singapore

Chapter 5: Torture
Tools and techniques of torture, including physical and mental punishment; from the rack and the thumbscrews to electric shocks and the use of hallucinogens
Using torture to extract information and confessions as well as to punish
Modern uses of torture, e.g. by the IRA

Chapter 6: The death penalty The Bible prescribed death as the penalty for more than 30 different crimes Methods used: crucifixion, boiling in oil, drawing and quartering, impalement, beheading, stoning, etc.
The continuing use of capital punishment in some Western nations
Lynching – the unauthorized, illegal use of death as a punishment.

Chapter 7: Why punish? Pros and cons
The issue of punishment versus corrective treatment
Supporters of legal punishment stress its value as a deterrent and, in the case of imprisonment, as a way of protecting society from lawbreakers

Further reading and resources
Index

Promotional Information

Illustrated history of how punishment changes over time in different cultures

About the Author

Lewis Lyons is a freelance author and journalist based in London, England, who has written on everything from business law to sewage. He was educated at Oxford University and The University of London and started his career working for a London community newspaper. He spent seven years in the United States, for the most part in New York City, where he headed a photo agency, edited a computer magazine, and wrote on technology, music, business, culture, and society.