Notes
1. The Body of the Condemned
- Foucault started by discussing two different styles of punishment - Damiens the Regicide and Faucher's young prisoners in Paris.
- Two processes: (1) disappearance of punishment as a spectacle (**amende honorable**, prisoners in public work). (2) A slackening of the hold on the body.
- The way to evaluate the effectiveness of punishment changed: inevitability vs. visible intensity.
- Blame is redistributed between conviction vs. execution.
- The role of a doctor in execution is interesting - welfare and alleviator of pain. This describes the double process: the disappearance of the spectacle and the elimination of pain.
- The more monstrous the crime, the criminal must not see or be seen.
- French Revolution endowed the guillotine with a great theatrical ritual. Eventually, the guillotine was placed inside prison walls.
- Discussion on the objective of punishment - if not on the body, it must be on the soul. Punish intention rather than action. Establish the casual relationship between the two.
Quotes
It is ugly to be punishable, but there is no glory in punishing.
—Foucault, The body of the condemned
Interesting branches
- amende honorable
- Tristlewood.
- French code of 1791.