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Development of Corrections

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Prisons CJS/230 Douglas Brinkley Nyna Holm 08/31/12

We have been taught about the history of our world, but looking at the history of criminals and especially those who are women raise great concerns about our moral structure. Women had a certain moral structures within society, so for a woman to become a criminal was considered a double-deviant. The reason for this is because she violated criminal or moral law (jrank.org). As we have looked at western society, we can see that when it comes to women, they are second class citizens who were taught to serve men and their wishes. That is why when women violate the law they are also violating the morality of themselves as well. In history, women and men had a variety of punishments that they would carry out. Serious offenses were punishable by death whether they were hung, burnt, or sold as slaves. However things changed after 17th and 18th century so that they could better the criminal justice system (Foster, 2006).
In the middle Ages, women who killed their husbands or committed adultery were for the most part, burned to death. Physical punishments were more common and included branding, public humiliation, whippings, and stocks & pillories. In the 19th century, death and physical torture remained in use, but alternatives were being considered by western society.
The house of correction and the workhouse were designed to house the underclass with failed morals. There were various forms of these institutions and they were used to hold the offenders that were less serious than others. These included prostitutes, and women who were poor. Many daughters, cousins, wives, and other types of women could also be sent to nunneries, poor

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