"Today's would-be reformers would do well to remember that, and to consider the possibility that the best models for productive change may not come from contemporary legislation or court decisions, but from a past that has largely disappeared from our consciousness. Sometimes, the best road forward faces back." -- William J. Stuntz in The Collapse of American Criminal Justice (2011)
Why Was Judicial Corporal Punishment Abolished?
Why Was Judicial Corporal Punishment Abolished? by John Dewar Gleissner, Esq. Throughout history, the lowest ranks of society provided the majority of criminals. Punishments often varied by social class or caste, officially or unofficially, and JCP most often was reserved for or primarily given to slaves and those with little status, money or property. [1] Thus, JCP is generally abolished in advanced societies as a by-product of greater equality or democracy, because it is a relic of lower-class status that newly enfranchised citizens dislike. JCP is unpleasant to administer, sometimes causes publicized deaths, [2] seems barbaric when incarceration holds out false promises of rehabilitation or humane treat...