The Power to Silence: A History of Punishment in Britain

Out of Print

The history of the penal system in Britain, however brutal and horrifying in many of its aspects, forms an integral part of the nation's social history.

In this book the author, who is a London Magistrate, traces the origin and development of the various methods by which criminals were punished in the past, using frequent quotations from the descriptions of eye-witnesses and from contemporary reports, and he explains how our present . penal system has gradually come into being.

An important section of the book is concerned with the belated awakening of public conscience with regard to the treat¬ment of prisoners, especially juveniles, which took place during the nineteenth century, and with the influence of the great penal reformers which culminated in the organization of the Probation and the Prison After-Care Services.

In the concluding chapters the author discusses some of the most recent views now being put forward by penologists, both-on the treatment of offenders and on the war against crime.