The English were punished in many different ways in the five centuries
after 1500. This collection stretches from whipping to the gallows, and
from the first houses of correction to penitentiaries. Punishment
provides a striking way to examine the development of culture and
society through time. These studies of penal practice explore violence,
cruelty and shame, while offering challenging new perspectives on the
timing of the decline of public punishment, the rise of imprisonment and
reforms of the capital code.