Early American Correctional Practices: Chapter Analysis

Our textbook begins discussing early American correctional practices within the first chapter. A few of the main topics talked about in this first chapter were the ways in which people were punished in “early America.” In addition, we also learn where the early American practices originated from and if some were adopted from England. Lastly, this chapter also includes how the early American practices have evolved throughout time and whether they were a result of natural progression or a particular social movement.

Early American correctional practices were wholesomely based on punishment. According to the textbook, “little thought was given to reforming offenders; such people were considered naturally depraved” (pg.15). Throughout the Colonial

Period, containing the years from 1620-1776, various punishments were used in response to crimes committed by the citizens to the current colonies. A few examples of these penalties included: banishment, stocks, and whipping posts. When William Penn arrived in Pennsylvania, he decided to switch things up a bit and adopted a new form of dealing with punishments known as, “The Great Law” (pg.15). This particular form of punishment based their rules and regulations on the “Quaker way” and concluded that hard labor within a correction house was efficient punishment for criminals back in the day. At the time, death was only used if a murder could be proven as pre-meditated. Because the early America was just starting out and deciding how they’d like to govern their new home, most of their correctional practices were influenced and based off their “mother country” England.

After reading about correctional reforms in the twentieth century, it seems to me that these changes came upon due to a social movement. According to the textbook, an organized reform group who called themselves “Progressives” thought it was necessary to bring about a change within the correctional system. These members belonged to the positivist school of criminology. This meant that they gained their understanding of treatment therapies based on “social, economic, biological, and psychological factors rather than religious or moral explanations for these crimes” (pg.20). After their transformations were beginning to come together, the focus shifted from the criminal act to the offender. In addition, “different treatments such as: probation, indeterminate sentences, and parole were viewed as more of a scientific approach.” Fast forwarding to modern day, these correctional practices put in place by the Progressives continue to play an important role in our corrections systems today.