Penitentiaries, reformatories, and chain gangs : social theory and the history of punishment in nineteenth-century America / Mark Colvin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Colvin, Mark, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Punishment--United States--History--19th century.

Punishment.

Criminal justice, Administration of--United States--History--19th century.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Correctional institutions--United States--History--19th century.

Correctional institutions.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

x, 294 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 1997.

Summary:

Over the course of U.S. history, the very definition of punishment in America has been subject to a variety of changes and has served as the basis for much debate. Mark Colvin examines three case studies from the 19th century that represent shifts in the interpretation of punishment: the rise of penitentiaries in the Northeast; the changes in treatment of women offenders in the North; and the transformation of punishment in the South after the Civil War. In addition, he examines topics such as how punishment differs from reform, the treatment of women in reformatories, and the notion that convict leasing and chain gangs of black prisoners in the South are a perpetuation of plantation slave labor.

Contents:

2. Rival Theories of the Transformation of Punishment Systems and Penal Practices 7

Part I. Case Study One: The Rise and Consolidation of the Penitentiary in the Northeast 29

3. From Colonies to Early Republic: The Rise of the Penitentiary in the Northeast 31

4. Market Revolution and the Consolidation of the Penitentiary in the Northeast 73

5. Applying Theories to the Rise and Consolidation of the Penitentiary in the Northeast 109

Part II. Case Study Two: The Transformation of Gender Roles and the Punishment of Women Offenders in the North 129

6. Before the Civil War: "True Womanhood" and the "Depraved" Female Offender 131

7. The Purity Crusade, Progressivism, and the Development of Women's Reformatories: From the Civil War to 1920 153

8. Applying Theories to the Transformation of the Punishment of Women Offenders 185

Part III. Case Study Three: The Transformation of Criminal Punishment in the South 199

9. From Slavery to Reconstruction: Penitentiaries and Chain Gangs 201

10. Redemption and the New South: Convict Leasing and Lynching 227

11. Applying Theories to the Transformation of Punishment in the South 255

Conclusion: Nineteenth-Century Legacies: Understanding Today's Corrections System 267.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [275]-283) and index.

ISBN:

031217327X

OCLC:

36528434