On the Penitentiary System in the United States and its Application to France: The Complete Text

Cham: Springer Verlag. Edited by Alexis de Tocqueville (2018)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This book provides the first complete, literal English translation of Alexis de Tocqueville’s and Gustave de Beaumont’s first edition of On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application to France. The work contains a critical comparison of two competing American penitentiary disciplines known as the Auburn and Philadelphia systems, an evaluation of whether American penitentiaries can successfully work in France, a detailed description of Houses of Refuge as the first juvenile detention centers, and an argument against penal colonization. The work provides valuable insights into understanding Tocqueville as a statesman, as well as a comparative look at civic engagement in early American and French penal reform movements. The Translator’s Introduction provides historical context for understanding Tocqueville’s work in French penal reform and the major themes of the report. The book thus fills a void in Tocquevillian studies and extrapolates the roots of American and French criminal justice systems in the nineteenth century.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Chapters

Appendix: On Penal Colonies

Although Tocqueville and Beaumont acknowledge the political advantage of penal colonies in deporting prisoners far from society, because it is appealing to the masses, they argue that the execution of penal colonies is problematic in execution and maintenance. It would be proportionally unjust for p... see more

Appendix No. 19: Financial Part

Tocqueville and Beaumont conclude their work with a variety of statistics. They tabulate the maintenance expenses for the old Newgate , Lamberton , and Walnut Street prisons. Next, Tocqueville and Beaumont give statistics on the cost of construction for the new Cherry Hill, Pittsburg, Washington, Ch... see more

Appendix No. 18: Some Points of Comparison Between France and America

Tocqueville and Beaumont statistically compare the French and American criminal justice systems along the following data points: crimes committed against persons, property, mores, and forgery ; mortality in prisons ; recidivism ; the number of women in prison ; the number of foreigners in prison ; a... see more

Appendix No. 17: Statistical Observations and Comparisons

Appendix No. 17 consists of thirteen sections containing comparative statistical tables on crimes, deaths in penitentiaries, recidivism rates among the States, genders, races, ages, and nationalities in penitentiaries, proportions of individuals originating from the State where they committed the cr... see more

Appendix No. 16: Statistical Notes

Appendix No. 16 consists of nine sections containing statistics, notes, and comments on various factors relating to the American criminal justice system. Included are annual reports of Auburn doctors ; written excerpts from Dr. Bache of the Eastern State Penitentiary; statistics on individuals pardo... see more

Appendix No. 15: Conversation with the Director of the Philadelphia House of Refuge

Tocqueville and Beaumont include their transcript of a brief interview with the Director of the Philadelphia House of Refuge, Edwin Young, performed in November 1831. Young notes that he can expect moral reform from juvenile delinquents until the age of fifteen or sixteen, it is hardest to correct t... see more

Appendix No. 14: Letter from Mr. Barrett, Chaplain of the Wethersfield Penitentiary

Tocqueville and Beaumont reproduce a letter received by them from Mr. Gerrish Barrett, chaplain of Wethersfield penitentiary, in October 1831. Barrett records the number of individuals sent to both Connecticut prisons from 1791–1831, classification of their crimes, and general statistics on the popu... see more

Appendix No. 13 Bis.: Regulations from Mr. Welles for the Boston House of Refuge

The Boston House of Refuge regulations, provided by Mr. Welles, cover the rules for initiating a child into the House, the schedule for each day , types of punishments that can be given and how the children will be monitored, and a detailed description of the three-fold classification system that me... see more

Appendix No. 13: Regulations of the Connecticut Prison

In Appendix No. 13, Tocqueville and Beaumont reproduce sections 1–9 of the Connecticut State Prison Regulations. The regulations specify the duties of the warden, deputy-warden, overseer, watchmen, and doctor. They include instructions for maintaining the prison property. Section seven includes gene... see more

Appendix No. 12: Excerpts

Appendix No. 12 contains excerpts from a letter by Mr. Martin Welles, Judge at Wethersfield and former inspector of the Connecticut State Prison. In his letter to Tocqueville and Beaumont, Welles explains the reasons for the expense of building the Wethersfield prison, including imprecise proportion... see more

Appendix No. 11: Conversation with Mr. Elam Lynds

Tocqueville and Beaumont record their interview with Mr. Elam Lynds, superintendent of the Auburn and then SingSing penitentiaries. Lynds describes how he initially began reforming the Auburn prison and argues that the discipline of labor in silence can be applied in any country, especially in Franc... see more

Appendix No. 10: Inquiry into the Philadelphia Penitentiary

Tocqueville includes his notes from interviewing forty-five inmates of the Cherry Hill Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA in October, 1831. The prison utilized the disciplinary method of solitary confinement in private cells with labor. Tocqueville asks prisoners how they felt about solitary confineme... see more

Appendix No. 9: Temperance Societies

Tocqueville and Beaumont give a brief description of the rise of the temperance movement in America, arguing that temperance societies represent the best practice of association to maintain liberty. They describe the hierarchical structure of the temperance movement, including the process of members... see more

Appendix No. 8: Imprisonment of Witnesses

Tocqueville and Beaumont condemn the American legal practice inherited from England of imprisoning witnesses until the court can hear their case. They provide two examples of how the practice unjustly punishes innocent persons, and argue that the law especially oppresses the poorer classes.

Appendix No. 7: Imprisonment for Debts in the United States

The authors describe how American law has slowly shifted away from imprisoning debtors before an official judgement, a practice they inherited from England. Several states modified the law to allow the debtor to prove honesty, established a minimum to the debt before imprisonment, and excluded women... see more

Appendix No. 6: Pauperism in America

The authors criticize American poverty laws for treating charity as a political institution. Alms-houses and poor-houses, the two main institutions intended to remedy poverty, do not operate on the principle that the State can only spend money on behalf of the poor which will later be repaid to it b... see more

Appendix No. 5: On Public Education

Tocqueville and Beaumont give a brief description of the American education system, divided into primary schools and higher education. Whereas colleges are typically subsidized and overseen by the State, primary schools are under the direction of local authorities. The authors use the State of New Y... see more

Appendix No. 4: Agricultural Colonies

Tocqueville and Beaumont give a brief defense of the bases of the system of agricultural colonies as a penal method suitable for France. They argue that agricultural colonies help society to utilize its existing resources to enable the poor to become productive farmers. Holland and Belgium’s agricul... see more

Appendix: Alphabetical Notes

The alphabetical notes expand upon ideas presented in the main text of On the Penitentiary System. They give information on the State laws establishing solitary confinement in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York; the bodily effects of solitary confinement upon prisoners; criticism of t... see more

Chapter 2

Tocqueville and Beaumont conclude the main portion of their work by examining whether the American juvenile detention system, houses of refuge, could be used in France. In law, France has established houses of correction to contain offenders less than sixteen years old; in practice, these offenders ... see more

Chapter 1

Part III begins the authors’ brief analysis of houses of refuge as ancillary institutions to American penitentiaries. Tocqueville and Beaumont argue that houses of refuge are successful because they are founded by private, wealthy individuals and given State support. The institutions contain both ju... see more

Chapter 4: Financial Part

Tocqueville and Beaumont compare the costs to erect the Philadelphia, Auburn, Wethersfield, Baltimore, SingSing, and Blackwell Island penitentiaries and conclude that costs are managed better by avoiding decorative luxuries in architecture. The Auburn system is inherently more economical than the Ph... see more

Chapter 3: Reform

In Part I, Chapter 3, Tocqueville and Beaumont argue that penitentiaries have three possible means of reforming prisoners: they avoid further corrupting prisoners, they give habits of obedience and industry that make prisoners productive citizens, and they hold out the possibility of radical moral r... see more

Chapter 1: History of the Penitentiary System

Tocqueville and Beaumont briefly provide the historical development of the idea of the penitentiary system in America. Penitentiaries were invented as an alternative to the death penalty and a means of reforming prisoners. Tocqueville and Beaumont argue that two different disciplines in the penitent... see more

Similar books and articles

Letters From America.Frederick Brown (ed.) - 2010 - Yale University Press.
Letters From America.Frederick Brown (ed.) - 2010 - Yale University Press.
Should we create a health care system in the united states?Laurence B. McCullough - 1994 - Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 19 (5):483-490.
Patterns of Italian Immigration to the United States.Frank J. Cavaioli - 2008 - Catholic Social Science Review 13:213-229.
Reconstruction theorems in quantum mechanics.P. C. Zabey - 1975 - Foundations of Physics 5 (2):323-342.
Health care reform in the United States.Chris Hackler - 1993 - Health Care Analysis 1 (1):5-13.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-02-02

Downloads
15 (#809,553)

6 months
4 (#320,252)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

The Varieties of Attitudes Towards Offenders.Nicolas Nayfeld - 2022 - Criminal Justice Ethics 41 (2):95-120.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references