HISTORY OF CORRECTIONS

Catalog description

This class will discuss the history of punishment, beginning in Mesopotamia and ending in the United States during the late 1990s. Topics relating to the factors influencing punishment, such as economic, religious, technological and political factors, and the methods of torturing and punishing people will be examined. Part one will focus primarily on punishment in Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa. Part two will cover the United States, starting at the point of European colonization. Specific areas, such as the role of torture and prisons during the inquisition, use of inmates for medical experiments and the exploitation of inmates in the post-Civil War South will be addressed.