8.1. A Brief History of The Philosophies of Punishment 
DAVID CARTER 
A Brief History of Punishment 
Feeling safe and secure in person and home is arguably one of the most discussed feelings in our nation 
today. The “fear of crime” influences how we think and act day to day. This has caused great fluctuation 
in the United States in regards to how we punish people who are convicted of violating the law. In part, 
punishment comes from the will of the people, which is then carried out through the legislative process, and 
converted into sentencing practices. People have differing views on why people should be punished, and 
how much punishment they should receive. These correctional ideologies, or philosophical underpinnings 
of punishment, have been prevalent throughout history, and are not brand new in the United States. This 
section details basic concepts of some of the more frequently held punishment ideologies, which include: 
retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. 
In the News: One of the more frequently used statistics in the news about crime is homicides in the 
United States. Often, you will hear something about a homicide rate or the number of homicides in a 
state, or a city for a particular year. An interesting clarifier about this number is that it typically does 
not include a number of deaths in prison. Deaths in prison occur every year, yet these are not normally 
counted in any statistic. In 2014, there were approximately 3,927 deaths that occurred in prisons in the 
United States. There are a variety of reasons for these deaths, to include homicide. For more information 
on this, look up – Mortality in Correctional Institutions (MCI). This is also formerly known as Deaths 
in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP). The Bureau of Justice Statistics houses and publishes data on 
this phenomenon. Additionally, this is a voluntary reporting structure, which may actually not capture all 
deaths that occur in prison. https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=243 
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