CHANGES IN SEVERITY OF PUNISHMENTS OVER TIME The perspective based off of Georg Rusche and Otto Kirchheimer’s work, addresses the change in severity of punishment over time in various ways. First, Rusche and Kirchheimer’s framework implied that when the conditions within a penal institutions as well as imprisonment rates became harsher, society was in a time when the elite members of society were fighting against the working class to sustain their power. Further to explain, the changes in punishment should be looked at as a cyclical movement that alters itself as society changes. For example, when there is a change within the economic realm, such as fewer jobs available, the incarceration rate would grow and punishments were more severe in
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Throughout time the thought that offenders who committed a crime could be rehabilitated changed in a positive way, there was less use of severe punishment and more of a focus on rehabilitation ideals. This is not to say that the use of severe punishment disappeared. The extremely dangerous criminals were the ones that society deemed as a threat, and the less serious offender was looked at with hopes of change. When the serious criminals were within prison it was thought that conditions during this time needed to be at least decent. It was thought that if the offender could work while in prison to produce goods, then the prosperity outside the penal system would prosper (Melossi, …show more content…
There has been a tremendous amount of both criticisms as well as limitations presented in regards to Georg Rusche and Otto Kirchheimer’s indications and statements, especially within the text of, Punishment and Social Society. To first start out with the criticisms of the literature theorist Hogg (1979) presented within Gardner (1987) text, was that Rusche and Kirchheimer’s hypothesis was considered reductionism. To explain further, Hogg elaborates that Rusche and Kirchheimer actually placed more theoretical framework on the political/economical state than should have been. Hogg states that when viewing this literature, a standpoint on just a political-ideological viewpoint proposes a much stronger relationship between the incarceration rates as the predominant form of production (Gardner,
Throughout time the thought that offenders who committed a crime could be rehabilitated changed in a positive way, there was less use of severe punishment and more of a focus on rehabilitation ideals. This is not to say that the use of severe punishment disappeared. The extremely dangerous criminals were the ones that society deemed as a threat, and the less serious offender was looked at with hopes of change. When the serious criminals were within prison it was thought that conditions during this time needed to be at least decent. It was thought that if the offender could work while in prison to produce goods, then the prosperity outside the penal system would prosper (Melossi, …show more content…
There has been a tremendous amount of both criticisms as well as limitations presented in regards to Georg Rusche and Otto Kirchheimer’s indications and statements, especially within the text of, Punishment and Social Society. To first start out with the criticisms of the literature theorist Hogg (1979) presented within Gardner (1987) text, was that Rusche and Kirchheimer’s hypothesis was considered reductionism. To explain further, Hogg elaborates that Rusche and Kirchheimer actually placed more theoretical framework on the political/economical state than should have been. Hogg states that when viewing this literature, a standpoint on just a political-ideological viewpoint proposes a much stronger relationship between the incarceration rates as the predominant form of production (Gardner,