Selective punishment builds the impression that transgression is never safe

Evidence

I will single out one of the most untoward of the prisoners. I will keep an unintermitted watch upon him. I will watch until I observe a transgression. I will minute it down. I will wait for another: I will note that down too. I will lie by for a whole day: he shall do as he pleases that day, so long as he does not venture at something too serious to be endured. The next day I produce the list to him. – You thought yourself undiscovered: you abused my indulgence: see how you were mistaken. Another time, you may have rope for two days, ten days: the longer it is, the heavier it will fall upon you. Learn from this, all of you, that in this house transgression never can be safe. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 58

Categorization

• XREF: Bentham’s strategy of occasional-but-unpredictable punishment is exactly how the implied pressure of constant surveillance operates — echoes the randomly-watched nature of telescreen monitoring. — connects to: Punishment’s deterrent power migrated from visible spectacle to certainty of apprehension — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 45; Withdrawal from public life after hate crime is coerced safety, not choice — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia: Still a Challenge for Us…, 364; Penal policy ignores the criminal psyche and acts on market incentives — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1357 (+1 more)
• SEED: Potential essay angle: how selective, arbitrary enforcement produces total compliance more effectively than constant enforcement in surveillance states.

Related

• Punishment’s deterrent power migrated from visible spectacle to certainty of apprehension (similarity 0.80)
• One observation action suffices to make prisoners police their own behavior permanently (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Punishment’s deterrent power migrated from visible spectacle to certainty of apprehension #expands (0.78) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 45