Punishment and the cultural limits to state power in late 18th-century Britain

Abstract

The late 18th century is widely regarded as a time of rapid and momentous change in European and US penal history. Having identified this as the crucial formative period of the modern penitentiary, scholars naturally have sought to explain the developments that contributed to this modern form of punishment. However, at least in the case of Britain, this was also a time of continuity. Despite the well-publicized efforts of prison reformers, seminal prison legislation, and the end of transportation to America, Britain did not cease conveying its felons overseas. The question arises, 'Why did Britain resume transporting its offenders to New South Wales despite the opportunity and impetus for prison reform?' This article challenges more instrumental economic, strategic, and social control explanations by placing transportation within a broader expressive or cultural context. Since state punishments are some of the clearest and most brutal displays of state coercion, their application can generate questions about the nature of state authority and human freedoms. Using historical documents and secondary sources, this case study seeks to uncover the broader cultural understandings of the State's capacity to punish in order to explain why Britain continued to expel its offenders overseas. In doing so, it draws attention to how transportation operated within existing social relations between rulers and ruled — relations that were centered on the practical experiences of liberty and influenced by emergent democratic sentiments.