Prison versus Western Australia: which worked best, the Australian penal colony or the English convict prison system?

Between 1850 and 1868, a natural experiment in punishment took place. Men convicted of similar crimes could serve their sentence of penal servitude either in Britain or in Australia. For historians and social scientists, this offers the prospect of addressing a key question posed over 200 years ago...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. VerfasserIn: Godfrey, Barry S. (VerfasserIn)
Medienart: Elektronisch Aufsatz
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: 2019
In: The British journal of criminology
Jahr: 2019, Band: 59, Heft: 5, Seiten: 1139-1160
Online Zugang: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Schlagwörter:
Bentham, Jeremy
Convicts
Prisons
Recidivism
Reconviction
Strafkolonie
Sträfling
Western Australia
Western Australien
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Between 1850 and 1868, a natural experiment in punishment took place. Men convicted of similar crimes could serve their sentence of penal servitude either in Britain or in Australia. For historians and social scientists, this offers the prospect of addressing a key question posed over 200 years ago by the philosopher, penal theorist and reformer Jeremy Bentham when he authored a lengthy letter entitled ‘Panopticon versus New South Wales: Or, the Panopticon Penitentiary System, and the Penal Colonization System, Compared’. This article answers the underlying tenet of Bentham’s question, ‘Which was best prison or transportation?’ by applying two efficiency tests. The first tests whether UK convicts or Australian convicts had higher rates of reconviction, and the second explores the speed to reconviction.
ISSN:1464-3529
DOI:10.1093/bjc/azz012