9781422284148

individual wants first: social order has had to be redefined and reasserted in every generation. It is our duty as a society to create and protect law and order as best we can.

Community spirit has never been something a civilized society could take for granted; its requirements have always been expressed explicitly in laws and enforced by authority. Even then, our idea of what might or might not be permissible has not been strong enough in itself to ensure our conformity: society’s rules are backed up by the fear of punishment. From the spontaneous parental slap to the solemn ceremony of the state execution, from amputations to parking fines, punishment has existed in almost every day and age as the means by which society has sought to keep its own wayward members under collective control.

Throughout history, it has been felt that justice should not just be done, but should be seen to be done for the benefit of society. The stocks of medieval Europe took this idea to extremes, being basically a way of exhibiting offenders.

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THE HISTORY OF PUNISHMENT