Chapter 02
Punishments: A Brief History

Multiple Choice Questions
 
1. Which of the following statements is true of the code of Hammurabi? 
A. The code failed to limit the degree to which vengeance could be pursued.
B. The code excluded wealthy men, and women, but it applied to lower-class individuals, and slaves.
C. The code limited the amount of punishment that could be imposed to what was appropriate for the degree of harm.
D. The code is an unwritten set of 282 laws passed on from one generation to another by word-of-mouth.
 
2. The evidence that the Greeks stoned those they had condemned to death, threw them from high cliffs, or bound them to stakes comes from _____. 
A. the ruins found in Athens
B. writings on a Greek stone
C. the descriptions of Greek poets
D. a diary of one of the criminals
 
3. Michel Foucault, the French historian and philosopher, says that the purpose of physical punishment was primarily _____. 
A. revenge
B. deterrence
C. humiliation
D. expedience

4. The _____, the first written laws of Rome, were issued in 451 B.C. 
A. Lex talionis
B. Twelve Tables
C. Cesar's Laws
D. Code of Hammurabi
 
5. The most frequently imposed penalty by the Twelve Tables was _____. 
A. death
B. imprisonment
C. banishment
D. mutilation
 
6. The culleus consisted of _____. 
A. immersing the offender in a pot with boiling water, oil, or tar, and confining them until death
B. removing the skin from the body of a still living offender and nailing it to the wall as a warning and a lesson for others
C. hanging the offender upside down and then slicing their bodies from the middle, starting from the groin
D. confining the offender in a sack with an ape, a dog, and a serpent, and throwing the sack into the sea
 
7. The punishment inflicted on exiles who returned to Rome was _____. 
A. blinding
B. quartering
C. chaining
D. death

8. Which among the following has been the most common physical punishment through the ages? 
A. Branding
B. Instant death
C. Lingering death
D. Flogging
 
9. The _____ sometimes burned witches and unruly slaves; made wide use of the stocks, the pillory, and the ducking stool; branded criminal offenders; and forced women convicted of adultery to wear "scarlet letters." 
A. sinners
B. branch Devonians
C. extremists
D. Puritans
 
10. A device consisting of nine knotted cords, fastened to a wooden handle, used for whipping a convicted subject was called _____. 
A. the Iron Glove
B. the Claw of Justice
C. the Cat-o'-nine Tails
D. the Russian Knout
 
11. A particularly mean device for whipping called _____ had fishhooks in it. 
A. the Iron Glove
B. the Claw of Justice
C. the Cat-o'-nine Tails
D. the Russian Knout
 
12. The term "ne'er-do-wells" refers to: 
A. shiftless and irresponsible individuals.
B. murderers who had been convicted.
C. rapists who were condemned to death.
D. slaves who were punished for stealing.

13. Which of the following is a reason why facial branding was abolished and was replaced with branding on the hand? 
A. It was abolished as the health hazards that it caused resulted in a large number of fatalities.
B. It was abolished as it was feared that more obvious marks would reduce employment opportunities.
C. It was abolished as branding on the face required significant amount of skill, precision, and time.
D. It was abolished as it was considered as inhumane treatment by the Council for Human Rights.
 
14. In the American colonies, criminals used to be branded with the letter "R" to signify that they were guilty of _____. 
A. rebellion
B. murder
C. heresy
D. burglary
 
15. The term Lex talionis resembles the biblical principle of: 
A. "let the punishment be just and fitting."
B. "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
C. "let the decision stand and all matters cease."
D. "I am innocent and therefore should be free."
 
16. Strangulation by a tightened iron collar was referred to as _____. 
A. beheading
B. hanging
C. garroting
D. knouting

17. The most honorable form of punishment for was: 
A. breaking on the wheel.
B. burning alive.
C. stoning to death.
D. decapitation with a sword.
 
18. The country of _____ was known for burning people alive. 
A. France
B. England
C. Israel
D. Greece
 
19. For more than 200 years, England practiced a form of criminal exile known as _____. 
A. extermination
B. transportation
C. shipping
D. flogging
 
20. To deal with the growing prison population, many countries used floating prison ships called _____. 
A. hulks
B. barges
C. pits
D. trenches

21. Which of the following statements is a reason why English transportation of criminals began to wane in 1853? 
A. It was a result of the revival of hulks as the first choice for prisoners with sentences of fewer than 7 years.
B. It was a result of the humanitarian campaigns that insisted on better living conditions and humane treatment of the prisoners.
C. It was a result of the increasing cost of oil which increased transportation costs significantly.
D. It was a result of the parliament abolishing transportation of prisoners with sentences of fewer than 14 years.
 
22. After the American Revolution, England sent its prisoners to _____. 
A. Devil's Island
B. California
C. Australia
D. Scotland
 
23. France transported its political prisoners along with other criminals to _____. 
A. Canada
B. Greenland
C. Devil's Island
D. South Africa
 
24. A punishment device that held the prisoner in a sitting position, with feet and hands locked in a frame is known as the _____. 
A. brank
B. rack
C. stocks
D. pillory

25. A punishment device that required the prisoner to stand with his or her head and hands locked in place is known as the _____. 
A. brank
B. rack
C. stocks
D. pillory
 
26. Those confined to the pillory occasionally had their _____ nailed to the wood. 
A. hands
B. feet
C. ears
D. genitals
 
27. The term bridewell refers to _____. 
A. a ship used in galley servitude
B. a workhouse for prisoners
C. a penitentiary for housing felons
D. a ship moored in a river to house prisoners
 
28. The Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons was established by the _____. 
A. Dutch
B. Quakers
C. Puritans
D. Catholic Church
 
29. According to Pieter Spierenburg, the first Europeans to segregate serious criminals from vagrants and delinquents were the _____. 
A. English
B. French
C. Dutch
D. Germans

30. _____ wrote The Spirit of Laws in 1748. 
A. Charles de Montesquieu
B. Voltaire
C. John Howard
D. Cesare Beccaria
 
31. Which of the following philosophers served time in the Bastille? 
A. Charles de Montesquieu
B. Voltaire
C. Jeremy Bentham
D. Cesare Beccaria
 
32. _____ was confined to the Tower of London as punishment for promoting the Quaker faith. 
A. Jeremy Bentham
B. William Penn
C. John Howard
D. Cesare Beccaria
 
33. _____ was the author of The State of the Prisons. 
A. Sir Robert Peel
B. William Penn
C. John Howard
D. Sanford Bates
 
34. _____ was the author of On Crimes and Punishments. 
A. Jeremy Bentham
B. Sanford Bates
C. John Howard
D. Cesare Beccaria

35. The principle advocated by Bentham, that the highest objective of public policy is the greatest happiness for the largest number of people is known as _____. 
A. hedonistic calculus
B. individualism
C. utilitarianism
D. totalitarianism
 
36. _____ was described as "the flower of the English reform movement." 
A. Sir Robert Peel
B. Jeremy Bentham
C. Sanford Bates
D. Sir Samuel Romilly
 
37. The London Metropolitan Police Force was established by _____. 
A. Sir Robert Peel
B. William Penn
C. Sanford Bates
D. Sir Samuel Romilly
 
38. The first Warden of the Federal Institution for Women at Alderson, West Virginia was _____. 
A. Dorothea Dix
B. Elizabeth Fry
C. Mary Belle Harris
D. Sally Peel
 
39. _____ was the first director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). 
A. John Howard
B. George J. Beto
C. William Penn
D. Stanford Bates

40. _____ initiated one of the earliest General Education Development (GED) testing programs for prisoners. 
A. George J. Beto
B. Sanford Bates
C. John Howard
D. William Penn

True / False Questions
 
41. The term flogging refers to a type of hanging that was practiced in London. 
FALSE
 
42. A device consisting of nine knotted cords, fastened to a wooden handle, used for whipping a convicted subject was called the Cat-o'-nine Tails. 
TRUE
 
43. A particularly mean device for whipping, called the Russian Knout, had fishhooks in it. 
TRUE
 
44. "Ne'er-do-wells" were shiftless and irresponsible individuals. 
TRUE
 
45. Branding was a type of mutilation practiced in the Roman society. 
TRUE
 
46. Branding, as a punishment for crime, was never practiced in the American colonies. 
FALSE

47. The term Lex talionis means "Let the punishment be just." 
FALSE
 
48. Instant death was usually reserved for members of the lower classes and not the nobility. 
FALSE
 
49. Breaking on the wheel was a form of instant death, reserved for the members of the nobility. 
FALSE
 
50. The most honorable form of punishment for men was decapitation with a sword. 
TRUE
 
51. For more than 200 years, England practiced a form of criminal exile known as transportation. 
TRUE
 
52. To deal with the growing prison population, England used floating prison ships called hulks. 
TRUE
 
53. After the American Revolution, England sent its prisoners to Burma. 
FALSE
 
54. France transported many of its criminals to Devil's Island. 
TRUE

55. The punishment device that held a prisoner in a sitting position, with feet and hands locked in a frame, was called the stocks. 
TRUE

Fill in the Blank Questions
 
56. Robert-Francois Damiens was sentenced to be quartered publicly in Paris for attempting to kill _____. 
King Louis XV
 
57. The evidence that the Greeks stoned those they had condemned to death, threw them from high cliffs, or bound them to stakes comes from _____. 
poets
 
58. Michel Foucault, the French historian and philosopher, says that the purpose of physical punishment was _____. 
revenge
 
59. The first written laws of Rome were called _____. 
The Twelve Tables
 
60. The most frequent penalty in the Twelve Tables was _____. 
death
 
61. The act of putting the offender in a sack with an ape, a dog, and a serpent and throwing the sack into the sea was called _____. 
culleus

62. The _____ sometimes burned witches and unruly slaves; made wide use of the stocks, the pillory, and the ducking stool; branded criminal offenders; and forced women convicted of adultery to wear "scarlet letters." 
Puritans
 
63. The term flogging refers to _____. 
whipping
 
64. An Arab TV personality, Rosanna Yami, was sentenced by a Saudi Court to receive 60 lashes for interviewing a Saudi man who _____. 
boasted of his sex life
 
65. In _____, women were flogged in private, and men were flogged in public. 
England
 
66. A device consisting of nine knotted cords, fastened to a wooden handle, used for whipping a convicted subject was called _____. 
the Cat-o'-nine Tails
 
67. The period of Western social thought that began in the 17th century, and lasted until the dawn of the 19th century is known as _____. 
the Age of Enlightenment
 
68. The author of The State of the Prisons in England and Wales was _____. 
John Howard

69. The author of On Crimes and Punishments was _____. 
Cesare Beccaria
 
70. The idea that people are motivated by pleasure and pain, and that the proper amount of punishment can deter crime is called _____. 
hedonistic calculus
 
71. The principle that the highest objective of public policy is the greatest happiness for the largest number of people is called _____. 
utilitarianism
 
72. The _____ was designed to allow prison staff to observe the occupants of each cell. 
Panopticon
 
73. The London Metropolitan Police Force was established by _____. 
Sir Robert Peel
 
74. The first Warden of the Federal Institution for Women at Alderson, West Virginia was _____. 
Mary Belle Harris
 
75. _____ was the first director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). 
Sanford Bates