''Penitentiaries, Reformatories, and Chain Gangs: Social Theory and the History of Punishment in Nineteenth-Century America'' is a non-fiction book written by Mark Colvin. It was published by

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

in 1997. In this book, Colvin applies theoretical perspectives to changes in

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beh ...

that occurred in the United States

penal system A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cri ...

during the 19th century.

Synopsis

Over the past 200 years, the United States has put into service various institutions to punish criminals. Examples include: prisons ( penitentiaries), institutions for rehabilitation (

reformatories A reformatory or reformatory school is a youth detention center or an adult correctional facility popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Western countries. In the United Kingdom and United States, they came out of social concern ...

), and a system where prisoners were leased to private companies (

convict lease Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor in the United States, penal labor that was practiced historically in the Southern United States before it was formally Convict leasing#End of the system, abolished during the 20th century. Un ...

). Various social pressures influenced these methods of punishment such as economic needs, influential power politics, and the cultural beliefs of the time. Martha A. Myers, writing for ''The American Journal of Legal History'' says, "Multiple causal influences are always at work ecausehuman agency figures in each and every one of them." Hence Colvin, the author, explores how

has changed in America from a historical and a social theory perspective. He does this by looking at three specific examples (case studies) from the 1800s that show how people viewed punishment during this period. The three specific cases are: penitentiary origins and expansion in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

; reevaluations in the

Northern United States The Northern United States, commonly referred to as the American North, the Northern States, or simply the North, is a geographical and historical region of the United States. History Early history Before the 19th century westward expansion, the ...

of how to treat women in custody, and the post-Civil War shifts in perspectives on punishment in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

. The book also illuminates the history of and the current state of punishment, the American criminal justice system, and the rehabilitation of offenders. Additionally, the author explores the difference between punishing criminals and trying to rehabilitate them. He also looks at how women were treated in reform institutions and how

convict leasing Convict leasing was a system of forced penal labor that was practiced historically in the Southern United States before it was formally abolished during the 20th century. Under this system, private individuals and corporations could lease la ...

and

chain gang A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was nota ...

s in the South continued the practices of slavery, especially for black prisoners.

Social and economic forces

Colvin frames his narrative from four theoretical perspectives to ask why we punish people the way we do. The answer lies within a complex web of social and economic factors. One view, from

Émile Durkheim David Émile Durkheim (; or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French Sociology, sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern soci ...

, emphasizes how punishment reflects a society's moral values, especially religious ideas. Another perspective, from Marxists, focuses on how punishment is tied to the

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...

and to ideas about

social class A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for exam ...

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

adds the role of the government and its control systems. Finally,

Norbert Elias Norbert Elias (; 22 June 1897 – 1 August 1990) was a German-Jewish sociologist who later became a British citizen. He is especially famous for his theory of civilizing/decivilizing processes. Life and career Elias was born on 22 June 1 ...

suggests that overall changes in "civilizing sensibilities" have influenced how punishments are carried out. These theories can be helpful tools for understanding how punishment systems in the US have changed over time. Colvin also discusses some of the limitations of each theory. He additionally assesses important reformers like

Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was an American revolutionary, a Founding Father of the United States and signatory to the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social refor ...

, Thomas Eddy, Eliza Farnham, and Zebulon Brockway. He shows how the goals and approaches of reformers generationally changed over time. For example, he analyzes how

Josephine Shaw Lowell Josephine Shaw Lowell (December 16, 1843 – October 12, 1905) was a Progressive Reform leader in the United States in the Nineteenth century. She is best known for creating the New York Consumers League in 1890. Seth Low's biographer described ...

, born in the mid-19th century, bridged the gap between the earlier religious reformers and the later, more professionalized reformers.

Women offenders

This segment of the book explores how women were punished, particularly with the rise of

. Colvin argues that reformatories weren't simply a response to an increase in female

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

. Instead, their appearance is related to a larger shift toward principles embodied in

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

. This shift changed women's opportunities and their social standing. Public confusion about women's roles and behavior appears to have caused the creation of these institutions by various social and charitable groups. These groups, with their specific moral views, ended up defining the characteristics of reformatories. The pervasive idea of what a good woman should be ( Cult of True Womanhood) and the values of the middle class (bourgeois moral order) were connected. These ideas heavily influenced who got sent to reformatories and what kind of punishments they received.

Southern chain gangs

Henry Kamerling, who reviews this book for ''The Florida Historical Quarterly'', says that recently, historians have been focusing more on the use of chain gangs and convict leasing in the

after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Kamerling also says that in contrast to some of these studies, Colvin has taken a different tack. Colvin says these prison systems were a way for white Southerners to control the black population who had just been freed from slavery. Colvin argues that conservative white Democrats were responsible for the far-reaching use of a harsh convict leasing system. Their forceful rise to power in the South during the 1870s ended the

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

, and gave impetus to the implementation of this system. Also, according to Colvin, the economic growth in the South after the Civil War ( the New South) was a major reason why convict leasing became widespread. At the same time,

social theories Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomenon, social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, s ...

about becoming more civilized and rational very much failed, because the South was less concerned with guiding principles that might lead to rehabilitation. Punishment then, had become something that wasn't really about reforming criminals within prison systems.

Reception

Reviews of this work are mixed: Myra C. Glenn, writing for ''The American Historical Review'' says: "Despite my criticisms of Colvin's book, it is one of the few texts that provides undergraduate students with a readable, concise history of punishment and penal institutions in the nineteenth-century United States. If used judiciously by teachers, it can challenge students to think critically about a crucial subject." Michael Donnelly, writing for ''Social Forces'' says that Colvin's book might be easier to understand for students because he simplifies complex topics. He does a good job of bringing together different historical sources, but it would be even better if the book had pictures and charts to make it more engaging and easier to read. Michael Meranze, writing for ''Law and History Review'' says: " his bookemerged out of a pedagogical dilemma the difficulty Colvin confronted in presenting the diverse array of historical and sociological studies on the history of punishment...in a coherent and manageable way. Colvin has brought together an impressive amount of historiographical and sociological material in a search for that coherence. His work clarifies issues that need to be confronted if a compelling historical sociology of punishment is to be written."

References

External links

* * {{isbn, 9780312173272 1997 non-fiction books American non-fiction books St. Martin's Press books History books Sociology books Books about imprisonment Books about legal history Works about punishment Works about crime in the United States Sociological theories Social history of the United States Penal system in the United States Penology Prison reform