Who was Jeremy Bentham and what did he contribute to corrections?
What will be an ideal response?
Another prominent figure was British lawyer and philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). His major work, Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789/1948), is essentially a philosophy of social control based on the principle of utility, which posits that human actions should be judged moral or immoral by their effect on the happiness of the community. The proper function of the legislature is thus to make laws aimed at maximizing the pleasure and minimizing the pain of the largest number in society—“the greatest good for the greatest number” (p. 151). If legislators are to legislate according to the principle of utility, they must understand human motivation, which for Bentham (1789/1948) was easily summed up: “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do” (p. 125). This was essentially the Enlightenment concept of human nature, which was seen as hedonistic, rational, and endowed with free will. The classical explanation of criminal behavior and how to prevent it can be derived from these three assumptions.
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