The suppose function of the prison is to Deter, Incapacitate and Reform individuals. The dea of deterrence is that individuals would be reluctant to commit crime due to fear of imprisonment as a form of punishment. Incapacitation has to do with restricting the movement of offenders where they are unable to commit further crimes. Reform is the idea that crime can be reduce by using punishment to change the behaviour and character of offenders for the better.
The prison has not been very successful in carrying out its supposed functions. For instance, when it comes to deterrence the prison has failed, in that the prison population has greatly increased over the years. The prison population has increased by 41,800 between 1993 and 2012. Currently …show more content…
This is because Marxist sees punishment in relation to the economic structure of society in which it takes place and to the class system, which as a result it promotes by penal practices and ideologies. For instance, according Marxist the ideas of Beccaria, in this case enlightenment were in accordance to the interest of the bourgeois class who were gaining in economic and political power at the time but still needed legal protection from the old ruling class, the landowning aristocracy who retained a corrupt control of the levers of state …show more content…
They argued that ‘Every system of production tends to discourse punishments which correspond to its productive relationships’ Therefore, they suggested that slavery as a kind of punishment is not possible without a slave economy. Additionally, if a slave economy finds the supply of slaves’ deficient in amount and the demand pressing there is a good chance it will introduce penal slavery. Accordingly, in the beginning capitalism needed more labour power therefore it became uneconomic to kill and mutilate offenders. In this case, it was a much better idea for Capitalism if offenders were incarcerated and put to productive work, and the profit gained pocketed by the capitalist class. This can be seen in the nineteenth century in the US where there was a labour shortage, this made it so that prisoners could operate as productive economic units in a way that was unimaginable elsewhere. Prisoners in the state were made to manufacture goods within the prison or they were contracted out to private entrepreneurs or public works ( 104) This productive Auburn system was favoured over strict solitary confinement of Pennsylvanian prisons. Therefore, in certain parts of the USA, prisons became factories again and began to produce goods on lucrative basis. However, this was cut short at the end of 19th century when free workers and their unions started
The prison has not been very successful in carrying out its supposed functions. For instance, when it comes to deterrence the prison has failed, in that the prison population has greatly increased over the years. The prison population has increased by 41,800 between 1993 and 2012. Currently …show more content…
This is because Marxist sees punishment in relation to the economic structure of society in which it takes place and to the class system, which as a result it promotes by penal practices and ideologies. For instance, according Marxist the ideas of Beccaria, in this case enlightenment were in accordance to the interest of the bourgeois class who were gaining in economic and political power at the time but still needed legal protection from the old ruling class, the landowning aristocracy who retained a corrupt control of the levers of state …show more content…
They argued that ‘Every system of production tends to discourse punishments which correspond to its productive relationships’ Therefore, they suggested that slavery as a kind of punishment is not possible without a slave economy. Additionally, if a slave economy finds the supply of slaves’ deficient in amount and the demand pressing there is a good chance it will introduce penal slavery. Accordingly, in the beginning capitalism needed more labour power therefore it became uneconomic to kill and mutilate offenders. In this case, it was a much better idea for Capitalism if offenders were incarcerated and put to productive work, and the profit gained pocketed by the capitalist class. This can be seen in the nineteenth century in the US where there was a labour shortage, this made it so that prisoners could operate as productive economic units in a way that was unimaginable elsewhere. Prisoners in the state were made to manufacture goods within the prison or they were contracted out to private entrepreneurs or public works ( 104) This productive Auburn system was favoured over strict solitary confinement of Pennsylvanian prisons. Therefore, in certain parts of the USA, prisons became factories again and began to produce goods on lucrative basis. However, this was cut short at the end of 19th century when free workers and their unions started