Criminals and thieves are a piece of every society in existence. A common question that is always present regarding criminals is how to punish them and how to keep more of the population from becoming criminals as time goes on. In his book, Utopia, Saint Thomas More discusses a wide variety of topics that posed important questions in the late European Renaissance. Through More’s recounting of the tales told by Raphael Hythloday, we get a glimpse of how criminals were treated in England at the time and we also get an understanding of Thomas More’s personal stance on how criminals are treated and should be punished. The first glimpse that we get of criminal treatment in England comes early in book one when Hythloday is discussing a dinner he …show more content…
The section concerning laws and what the Utopians do with criminals is very short, but intriguing all the same. More writes that in Utopia, “the most serious crimes are punished with servitude, which they consider no less grievous to the criminal.” Compared with England, it seems that theft would be likely to be punished by servitude in Utopia, rather than death. The utopians seem to feel that servitude serves as a favorable method of rehabilitation of the criminal, a way to benefit society. More continues to say that, in comparison with execution, criminals that are punished via servitude, “do more good by their labor than death, and they offer a long-standing example to deter others from similar crimes.” The Utopians have a stark contrast to the English on how criminals are treated. They do not execute unless it is extremely necessary, such as if the slaves continuously rebellious and unruly, then they will be “slaughtered like wild beasts that cannot be restrained by bars or chains.” As much hope is given to the criminals of Utopia as is possible, only if the slaves that are being punished no not show any willingness to pay for their crimes are they executed. In a further contrast to the English method of criminal punishment, the criminals in Utopia are released if they are, “tamed by long suffering and show that they regret the sin more than the …show more content…
Undoubtedly, such a system cannot be implemented in the England of 1516 or in present times and the reason why is pride. People in 1516 and in today’s world are too determined to be better than the person on either side of us to adopt the customs of Utopia. On this point, Hythloday believes that, “everyone’s concern for his own well-being […] would long since have easily drawn the whole world to adopt the laws of this commonwealth, if it were not held back by one and only one monster, the prince and parent of all plagues, pride.” It seems that the task of putting aside our pride for the common good of all is to daunting a task to be possible, and as such the laws and customs of Utopia will likely never be replicated outside of this book, however much they be
The definition of Utopia is, “an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.” The rules and controls listed above and the many more that are in the book “Anthem” describe a society trying to become collective but in a utopian way. The purpose of these rules and controls is to keep the society collectivist. Fear is what runs this society. “.
Between the years of 1714 and 1799 the rate of theft in London increased for many reasons. The method of research use to prove this hypothesis was Old Bailey online. Old Bailey is a court in the city of London in the county of Middlesex. The court is held eight times a year for the trial of prisoners; the crimes tried in this court are high and petty treason, petty larceny, murder, felony, burglary, etc. The goal of this paper is to prove that not only did theft increase, but also why it increased. My preliminary findings suggest that overall theft did increase, and that the main causes for this were: political, economical, and social problems.
From the American Revolution to independence movements in Latin America, the forming a commonwealth free of vice, tyranny, and inequality has always been one of man’s greatest intentions. In this commonwealth, everyone’s needs are met, society is free of all hierarchies, and everyone works for the common good. However, history has proved that this commonwealth can never truly exist. On a rudimentary level, it is impossible for any large group to properly function without someone or a group of people creating and enforcing the necessary laws and customs. On a deeper level, it seems impossible to eschew avarice, inequality, war, and many other aspects commonwealths face. Sir Thomas More, a lawyer, statesman, and philosopher imagined this perfect commonwealth and dubbed it, Utopia. In Utopia, Sir Thomas More describes a place where all citizens are content with their lives and there is no social inequality. However, readers easily notice contradictions that are present in this seemingly perfect place. In their treatment of gold and iron, slaves, and gender roles, Utopians prove to readers that a commonwealth free of hierarchies, vice, and tyranny can never truly exist.
In other places practically everyone knows that, if he doesn 't look out for himself, he 'll starve to death, however prosperous his country may be. He 's therefore compelled to give his own interests priority over those of the public; that is, of other people. But in Utopia, where everything 's under public ownership, no one has any fear of going short, as long as the public storehouses are full. Everyone gets a fair share, so there are never any poor men or beggars. Nobody owns anything, but everyone is rich - for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety? (p.
"Today's system, where imprisonment is a common penalty for most crimes, is a historical newcomer." Many crimes during 1718 and 1776 were punishable by death. This was usually done by hanging, sometimes by stoning, breaking on the rack and burning at the stake. Towards the end of the 1700's people realized that cruel punishment did little to reduce crime and their society was changing the population grew and people started to move around more frequently. There had to be a search for new punishments. "New punishments were to rely heavily on new ideas imported from Europe in the writing of such social thinkers of the Enlightenment as the baron de Montesquieu, Voltaire, Thomas Pain and Cesare Beccaria". These thinkers came to believe that criminals could be rehabilitated."
In Western cultures imprisonment is the universal method of punishing criminals (Chapman 571). According to criminologists locking up criminals may not even be an effective form of punishment. First, the prison sentences do not serve as an example to deter future criminals, which is indicated, in the increased rates of criminal behavior over the years. Secondly, prisons may protect the average citizen from crimes but the violence is then diverted to prison workers and other inmates. Finally, inmates are locked together which impedes their rehabilitation and exposes them too more criminal
"Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England." Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013. Citation (3)
According to Foucault, the penal justice system in the eighteenth century followed one fundamental principle: there should be no punishment without an explicit law and an explicit behavior violating the law (Foucault, “Truth and Juridical Forms” 56). Th...
Even Shakespeare speaks of a utopian society in The Tempest, when Gonzalo says, “Would I admit; no name of magistrate; letter should not be known; riches, poverty, and use of service; none; contract; succession; bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none… no occupation; all men idle, all, and woman too, but innocent and pure; no sovereignty.” (The Tempest, pg. 24, lines 14-21) To Gonzalo, a utopian society has the absence of status, property, and profession which assumes unity and uniformity of humans. Although it seems perfect, it is impossible to get people to follow along. Many utopian experiments start off with enthusiasm, but end up with little followers. An example of this would be the Fruitland. It is where Louis May Alcott wrote her short story, “Transcendental Oats”, it depicted an image of how they lived there and how the experiment failed. Her father, Brandon Alcott and another man were the ones who started the experiment. However, they kept adding rules once people joined the community, thus caused many people to leave. Later on, due to crop failure and internal disorder, the community dissolved. People who joined the community were disillusioned by how different they thought the community would be. This often happened with many utopian
Thomas More’s detailed and thoughtful creation of Utopia truly serves as an example of the perfect state. The presence of his own humanist ideas, including the variability of human nature and the importance of reason suggest that Utopia is a translation of his own beliefs, while inclusion of satire and contradiction distinctly marks Utopia as unattainable, yet noble and beneficial goal that society should strive to work towards.
In Utopia, “Among [the Utopians] virtue has its reward, yet everything is shared equally, and all men live in plenty” (More 1.38).By creating a place that has no money or private property More undermines the institutions of Tudor England by getting at the problem of social injustices having to do with private property (Brayton).Stevenson says, “With radical simplicity the Utopians avoid the ills of Europe: all private property is abolished. Pungent descriptions of crime, poverty, unemployment, ostentatious luxury, and idleness in Book I give way in Book II to Hythloday's eulogy of a country which is literally a ``commonwealth,'' where there are no beggars, no gentlemen, no money”(Stevenson). The main tension in the book Utopia is from the disagreement about everything having to do with private property (Phillips).
The origin of the word prison comes from the Latin word to seize. It is fair to say that the traditionally use of prison correspond well with the origin of the word; as traditionally prison was a place for holding people whilst they were awaiting trail. Now, centuries on and prisons today is used as a very popular, and severe form of punishment offered to those that have been convicted. With the exception however, of the death penalty and corporal punishment that still takes place in some countries. Being that Prison is a very popular form of punishment used in today's society to tackle crime and punish offenders, this essay will then be examining whether prison works, by drawing on relevant sociological factors. Furthermore, it will be looking at whether punishment could be re-imagined, and if so, what would it entail?
Punishing the unlawful, undesirable and deviant members of society is an aspect of criminal justice that has experienced a variety of transformations throughout history. Although the concept of retribution has remained a constant (the idea that the law breaker must somehow pay his/her debt to society), the methods used to enforce and achieve that retribution has changed a great deal. The growth and development of society, along with an underlying, perpetual fear of crime, are heavily linked to the use of vastly different forms of punishment that have ranged from public executions, forced labor, penal welfare and popular punitivism over the course of only a few hundred years. Crime constructs us as a society whilst society, simultaneously determines what is criminal. Since society is always changing, how we see crime and criminal behavior is changing, thus the way in which we punish those criminal behaviors changes.
Because they are described in a detailed manner, the Utopia book itself seems to be enough to be a blueprint for the future. However, Thomas More clearly stated that he just wishes Europeans to follow some good qualities of the Utopian society—“there are many things in the Utopian commonwealth that in our own societies I would wish rather than expect to see” (97)—because he himself knows that it is impossible for any country to be like Utopia. This is apparent, because Utopia is possible on the premise that every factor comes together to create this ideal society. Even the geography has to contribute to this premise, as Hythloday explains the geography of Utopia as the place where strangers cannot enter without one of them (39). Moreover, from diligent and compassionate Utopians’ characteristics and their ways of life, they seem to be successful in reaching the fullest of every aspect of their life including physical, intellectual, social, spiritual, and emotional, when it is hardly possible to even have one person like that in real life.
The Classical School of Criminology generally refers to the work of social contract and utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham during the enlightenment in the 18th century. The contributions of these philosophers regarding punishment still influence modern corrections today. The Classical School of Criminology advocated for better methods of punishment and the reform of criminal behaviour. The belief was that for a criminal justice system to be effective, punishment must be certain, swift and in proportion to the crime committed. The focus was on the crime itself and not the individual criminal (Cullen & Wilcox, 2010). This essay will look at the key principles of the Classical School of Criminology, in particular