Discipline and Punish pg 3-16 response

Foucault describes the transition of punishment of the body to punishment of the soul as society shifts to more non-corporal penal system.  In place of torture and other cruelty of the sort, the purpose of the system is rehabilitation more than punishment.  “Punishment” in the wake of sentencing today is followed the assessment of the individual by educated doctors, psychiatrists, and other practitioners of sciences in order to determine the necessary corrective measures.  Punishment today is a stark contrast to the violence of traditional penal law that aimed to evoke fear and deter future misconduct.

There are pros and cons to this transition; torture and public penalties were short term solutions and efficient at that but the correctional methodology of today might have an impact on society instead of merely ignoring and removing the issue by means of punishment.

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