Punishment and society: the social role and the characteristics of penal systems
The principles of punishment referred to above are generally discussed by moral philosophers and philosophers of law. Punishment has also, how¬ever, been of great interest to sociologists and historians. While philoso¬phers and legal theorists have developed theories about and argued about the different justifications for punishment, sociologists and historians have been concerned with the ways in which the different ideas have come and gone in penal fashion, the ways in which penal codes and penal policies have shown the relative influence of the different philosophies. They have shown us that there are many factors other than the truth or reasonable¬ness of the ideas themselves which affect their incorporation into actual penal practices.