This book focuses on major changes in punishment patterns during the principal phases of world history, tracing continuities, reforms, and regional differences.
Punishment in World History studies the official penalties enacted by governments throughout time, chronicling the limited courses of action in hunting and gathering civilizations, the array of punishments in early agricultural societies, and the various efforts to reform these patterns since the 17th and 18th centuries. There is also discussion on community sanctions and disciplinary patterns applied to children. A secondary emphasis involves analyzing different regional traditions, including the impact of the principal religions, varying definitions of punishable crime, and, in the modern period, differing levels of reliance on physical punishments and imprisonment. The regional analysis also pays close attention to the effects of colonialism, imperialism, and the slave trade. Ending with an assessment of the contemporary period, the book considers the efforts to develop and apply global standards to punishment.
With far-reaching coverage of a variety of human civilizations in history, this book is a core resource for students and scholars of the history of corrections, world history, and criminal justice.
1. Introduction Part I: Early Human Societies 2. Punishment in Hunter-Gatherer Societies 3. Early Civilizations and a Transformation of Punishment Part II: The Classical and Postclassical Periods 4. The Classical Societies 5. The Postclassical Period and the Role of Religion Part III: The Early Modern Period, 1450–1800 6. The Empires of Asia and Eastern Europe 7. New Prisons and New Ideas in Western Europe 8. Punishment in the New European Colonies Part IV: The 19th Century 9. An Age of Reform and Its Limitations: Western Europe and Beyond 10. Reform Efforts in Asia, Russia, and Latin America 11. Punishment in the New Empires: From the 19th Century to the Mid-1950s Part V: The Contemporary Period 12. Major Changes 13. Regional Patterns in the Contemporary Period 14. Conclusion
Biography
Peter N. Stearns is University Professor of History at George Mason University. He has written widely in the fields of world history and the history of emotion, with recent books on Human Rights in World History (rev. ed.) and Happiness in World History.
