Reform punishment shifted example from sovereign display to economic obstacle

Evidence

But the difference was that the prevention that was expected as an effect of the punishment and its spectacle – and therefore of its excess – tended now to become the principle of its economy and the measure of its just proportions. One must punish exactly enough to prevent repetition. There is, then, a shift in the mechanics of example: in a penality employing public torture and execution, example was the answer to the crime; it had, by a sort of twin manifestation, to show the crime and at the same time to show the sovereign power that mastered it; in a penality calculated according to its own effects, example must refer back to the crime, but in the most discreet way possible and with the greatest possible economy indicate the intervention of power; ideally, too, it should prevent any subsequent reappearance of either. The example is no longer a ritual that manifests; it is a sign that serves as an obstacle. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 153

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Penal reform aimed to increase punishment’s effects while lowering its costs. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 135; Reformers shifted punishment’s aim from expiation to prevention — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 204; Reformers reframed punishment as protection rather than vengeance — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 489 (+1 more)

Related

• Reform-era punishment was future-directed, aimed at prevention (similarity 0.89)
• Penal reform aimed to increase punishment’s effects while lowering its costs. (similarity 0.88)
• Reformers reframed punishment as protection rather than vengeance (similarity 0.87)
• Reformers shifted punishment’s aim from expiation to prevention (similarity 0.86)
• Punishment’s severity must aim at future prevention, not past harm (similarity 0.85)
• Punishment shifted from sovereign vengeance to ensuring no crime goes unpunished (similarity 0.83)
• Penal reform succeeded by managing illegalities differentially, not eliminating them (similarity 0.83)
• The example shifted from terror to the decipherable lesson of crime and punishment (similarity 0.83)
• Penal reform sought not less punishment but more universal, deeper social control (similarity 0.82)
• Punishment’s deterrent power migrated from visible spectacle to certainty of apprehension (similarity 0.82)
• Reformers designed punishment as a public didactic spectacle for all citizens (similarity 0.82)
• Reformers sought to redistribute punitive power throughout the whole social body. (similarity 0.81)
• Penal codes keep stable while the substance judged shifts from crime to offender (similarity 0.81)
• The reformed penalty shifted its target from the body to subtler suffering (similarity 0.80)
• Penal reform arose from a policy shift, not new humanitarian feeling (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Reformers shifted punishment’s aim from expiation to prevention #expands (0.82) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 204
• Reformers reframed punishment as protection rather than vengeance #expands (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 489
• Military punishment reform moved from spectacular severity toward certainty of punishment #exemplifies (0.72)