AJ 240: Punishment

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AJ 240 Punishment CorrectionsSpring Term 2007

• MW 1600-1750 Instructor Robert Swan RM SBII
  RM 247

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Agenda April 2, 2007

• Introductions
• NWA Legitimacy Rule of Law
• Syllabus Readings, Assignments and Requirements

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Instructor Background

• I am Robert Swan, adjunct Instructor at PSU
  WSU
• ED Background BS Political Science, MS
  Criminology and Criminal Justice, 6th Year
  Doctoral Student.
• Teaching 4 years teaching at PSU
• Courses taught AJ 200 Intro to Criminology and
  Criminal Justice (usually every term) AJ 260
  Criminal Justice and Pop Culture (usually summer,
  sometimes fall), The Politics of Law and Order
  (PS 428/528) POL S 317 Media and Politics at
  WSU
• Beginning my 6th and final year of a Ph.D. in
  Public Administration Policy
• Focus Prisons Administrative decision-making
  in corrections. Specifically, in relation to
  Interstate Corrections Compacts and the influence
  that institutional, public, political and media
  pressures (to name a few) have on decision-making
  in the Oregon Department of Corrections.
• Theoretical interests Institutional Theory,
  Social Worlds Social Construction Theory How
  do institutions and social settings (to include
  public perceptions) influence decision-making in
  the corrections environment?

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NWA and Institutionalization

• Think about what this means to you in terms of
  the American criminal justice system.
• Implications for punishment and corrections?

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Who are you ?

• Name
• Major
• Interest in Punishment Corrections
• NWA Blurb What does this mean to you in terms
  of American criminal justice practices?

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Function of Prisons

• Function of Prisons
• In dictatorships To maintain the interests and
  uphold the laws maintained and created by those
  (few) in power.
• In a Democracy To maintain the interests of
  society as a whole as based on the laws created
  in a participatory deliberative democratic
  process.

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Public Perceptions of Legitimacy the American
Rule Of Law System

• Criminal justice agencies are political
  institutions. Why?
• Legitimacy is not only about law or the legality
  of government action.
• Criminal Justice Perceptions of Institutional
  Legitimacy simply defined in 2 parts
• 1) legitimacy is the public confidence in
  government institutions to be fair and equitable.
  (Individual Collective interests A fine
  balance)
• 2) and the public belief that government
  institutions are actually willing and able to
  prevent, solve and respond to crime.
• What about Prisons? What happens if prisons are
  not perceived to be legitimate institutions?
• What if it is public policy (policy that we
  create) which is forcing prisons to appear
  illegitimate in the eyes of some community
  members?

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Prisons are also Institutions An
Institutionalized Organization

• Organizational forms and behaviors take the form
  that they do because of prevailing values and
  beliefs that have become institutionalized.
• They are widespread understandings of social
  reality. We socially construct notions of
  corrections form and function.
• These values and beliefs about correctional
  behavior and function become institutionalized in
  the form of myths, symbols, and rituals.

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A Brief History of Punishment

• A mass execution in 1444 Execution of the
  occupiers of Zurich. One executioner killed 72
  delinquents with a sword on a single day

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Previously Accepted Modes of Punishment Crime
and Punishment as a Reflection of Culture (NOTE
Animals were often tried, convicted and punished
as well.)

• The Red-Hot Iron Ordeal (primitive to middle
  ages/everywhere) carrying a 3 pound lump of
  red-hot iron. If uninjured, God has protected
  you and you are innocent
• Ordeal of Boiling Water (or oil) Victim forced
  to reach into a vat of boiling water to retrieve
  an object. If uninjured, you are innocent.
• The Cold Water Ordeal (middle-ages/witches
  wizards) After a religious ceremony, victim
  bound and gagged and thrown into the water.
  Failure to sink to a certain depth was proof of
  guilt.
• Thumbscrews (18th century) Mashing thumbs to
  pulp in order to obtain evidence.
• Iron Gauntlets British, Tower of London.
  Tightening metal bands around wrist and suspended
  from a beam.
• The Glove (19th century) Placed on high
  crutches, left hand held out horizontally and
  fitted with wooden glove and chained/wrapped
  around the body and yanked up and down. Any
  movement was painful.
• The Ducking Stool (female punishment U.K.)
  Bound person sits in chair tied at the end of a
  long pole is dunked in the river until
  properly punished.
• The Scolds Bridle An iron cage placed on the
  head of a women, including a piece of steel that
  is jammed in victims mouth to act as a gag.
• Rats, Cats Misc. (Europe) Metal container
  turned upside down on top of victim and a fire
  set on topanimals burrowed into victim to escape
  heat.

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American Punishment Penal Reform

• From William Penns 17th Century Jails to the
  modern Prison
• A long history of reform failure.
• Why? Dogmatic, Generalized and untested reforms
  developed in the political process.
• A few Examples
• Total Isolation repentance
• Isolation and congregate work (in silence)
• Indeterminate sentencing The rise of parole
  Probation
• Determinate sentencing Measure 11
• Mandatory Minimum Sentences 3 Strikes

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Syllabus

• Course Blog http//punishmentandcorrections.motime
  .com
• Texts
• Requirements
• Readings Schedule