Public punishment was abolished because it inflamed crowds rather than teaching them.
Evidence
The agitation that had always surrounded the public executions now found an echo in precise threats. One can see why the July monarchy decided to abolish the chain-gang for the same – but more pressing – reasons that brought about, in the eighteenth century, the abolition of the public executions: ‘It is no part of our morality to treat men in this way; one must avoid providing in the towns that the convoy passes through so hideous a spectacle, which, in any case, teaches the population nothing’ (Gazette des tribuneaux, 19 July 1836). It was necessary, therefore, to break with these public rites; to subject the movements of convicts to the same mutation as the punishments themselves; and to bring them, too, under the veil of administrative decency. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 397
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Pre-prison punishment aimed at spectators as public spectacle, not at reforming the punished. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 102; Public executions produced disorder rather than deterrence for the crowd — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 118; Public executions failed to frighten the people and so reformers demanded their abolition — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 118 (+4 more)
Related
- Public executions failed to frighten the people and so reformers demanded their abolition (similarity 0.87)
- Public executions produced disorder rather than deterrence for the crowd (similarity 0.87)
- Punishment’s primary audience is the non-criminal public, not the offender (similarity 0.86)
- Public execution reactivates injured sovereign power rather than restoring justice. (similarity 0.81)
- Public execution functions as a political ritual of power, not mere justice. (similarity 0.80)
- Spectatorship of punishment was already class-divided before the prison era (similarity 0.79)
- Rather than displaying sovereign power, executions staged a reversible duel between executioner and people (similarity 0.79)
- Reformers designed punishment as a public didactic spectacle for all citizens (similarity 0.79)
- The crowd functioned simultaneously as audience and participant in royal punishment (similarity 0.79)
- Pre-prison punishment aimed at spectators as public spectacle, not at reforming the punished. (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Public executions produced disorder rather than deterrence for the crowd
#corroborates(0.95) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 118 - Pre-prison punishment aimed at spectators as public spectacle, not at reforming the punished.
#corroborates(0.85) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 102 - Public executions failed to frighten the people and so reformers demanded their abolition
#corroborates(0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 118 - Corporal punishment activates fear rather than teaching the intended rule.
#corroborates(0.85) — , The Rod and the Child, 9943 - Well-designed punishment converts crime from glory into misfortune requiring re-education
#expands(0.80) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 184 - Punishment’s primary audience is the non-criminal public, not the offender
#complicates(0.75) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 156 - Spectatorship of punishment was already class-divided before the prison era
#expands(0.72) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 394