gangs – The criminal element of the gang mentality serves as a backbone modern crime and its early traces can be seen in narratives such as mountain and mount.  The structure of the gang is such that every member is supposed to look out for the best interest of the gang while openly warring with those of other factions.  The gang is the formation of an organized structure of crime in which people unite their common illegal goals and use one another’s resources for a common good of the group.  It defines who you are and how others percieve and interact with you.

pig – My personal favorite term of endearment for an officer of the law is prevalent within the modern criminal culture and exemplifies the disdain that the criminal generally harbors towards the authority figures who job it is to arrest them.  It draws a comparison between a person who has for the good of the whole community decided upon seeking to curb chaos to an animal that rolls around in a pit of mud and feces; quite possibly the filthiest animal there is.  This is interesting because it speaks volumes about the degree to which criminals place themselves in opposition to the powers that be.  Criminals do not seem to admit that stopping crime is justifiable instead they condemn the executor of the public’s general welfare by positing that they are the truly savage and beastly creations.

list – The evidence of the importance of lists in these early crime narratives can easily been throughout mount’s story. The entire thing is a list of where he has been and what crimes has was commiting while in these places. There is no rhythm to this just a bombardment of details which include mention he sole a large quantity of nutmeg at one point. This seems rather trivial but all these actions contribute to the habitual nature of sin and crime as viewed by society in these times.

pardon – At the end of the mount narrative the criminal has become a man afraid to die who now has a warning for all to hear. In this he includes his acknowledgment that he deserves his punishment and implores people not to let acts of theft go with a slap on the wrist. He believes this leniency is what hardened him into the career criminal that he became. He even says that thieves relay their “wonderful escapes of justice” while they get drunk after the fact. The pardoning will do nothing but lead to more criminal acts.

Lenity– He is thankful for the lenity of his judges in postponing his sentence, but most of the narratives we have read ending in execution involve more heinous crimes than he commits, like infanticide. Like earlier narratives, this thankfulness seems a bit forced rather than spontaneous.

Inconsequential– At times, Frasier seems more like a petty thief than one that would be considered notorious. He describes stealing cheese, stockings, and handkerchiefs. He seems almost to be stealing to survive rather than on a grand scale.

Escape- Powers manages to escape from jail while awaiting execution, and even says at the conclusion of his narrative that the thought of escape eases his mind off of his execution. After the end of the story, we learn that Powers does in fact escape. This is very much unlike the other narratives we have read in which the criminals accept their fate and are not only willing, but somewhat excited to die. Powers attempts (and successes) in escaping show his unwillingness to accept his fate.

Intention- Powers states that he overtook a young woman “without any evil intentions,” but after raping her says that he “succeeded in my hellish design” (344). Powers’ narrative seems to be full of not evil intentions, but mere opportunity: “for when I saw the opportunity, the devil, or some other evil spirit, gave me the inclination” (334).

Innocence- Like Rachel Wall, Elizabeth Wilson is concerned with the idea of her own innocence. She also has a modern conception of guilt an innocence, an idea of not guilty by reason of insanity: “or was an insensible, hardened creature, and did not expect to die for this crime” (271).

Force- Wilson says that Mr. Wilkinson kills her infants by stomping on their chests, and the force of the blow ends their lives. Also, he puts a pistol to
Wilson keeping her forcibly from being able to protect her babies

Guilt- Alexander White’s sentencing introduces a very modern concept of guilt or innocence, one very caught up in circumstance and motive. At his trial, the “court seemed much affected with his plea and the rehearsal of his story”, and later “were so tender of his case, that they proceeded to examine sundry witnesses” (247). Although White is eventually found guilty and sentenced to death, it is still interesting to note that his story garnered the sympathy of the court.

Salvation- Alexander white is extremely concerned with his own salvation, long after he has accepted that he will die and that he deserves to. Even upon his execution, he expressed a belief that he will be saved by God.

Escape – In this narrative we are given the first instance of a criminal believing he could outsmart the system. Frasier openly talks of his plans to and succese in escaping from both prison and from those who caught him red handed. He was several times able to escape formal punishment through specific arrangements made for his petty thefts. Even after he was sentenced to death he entertained thoughts of his escape which he accomplished in order to rob a number of new stores and people.

education – Frasier openly admits that he is deserving of the punishment of death. He claims that his years of mischief had hardened him and led to the more extreme acts of wickedness that cost him his life. He says that he would’ve been better served used education as a means to get ahead and true to the narratives of the time warns others not to take the same path. “…the appearance of evil, whose beginning tho’ comparatively small, yet often ends in the most gross acts of wickedness.”

the two into two individual posts.)

1. pain– suffering and distress in varying degrees of severity takes on a completely different definition in Foucault’s text. in fact, he presents pain as the foundation upon which the “technique” of torture is built. in fact, Foucault points out that in order for an act to be considered torture, it must obey three criteria, all of which pivots around pain. “it must produce a certain degree of pain,…death is a torture [if it] is the occassion and the culmination of a calculated gradation of pain,…and death-torture is the art of maintaining life in pain.” “torture rests on a whole quantitative art of pain.”

2. confession– this disclosure of information, fact or not, is presented by Foucault as the key moment in one’s right to subject another to torture. I felt like it was presented as an interesting concept seeing as the emphasis placed on the confession seems to also function as an outlet of responsiblity for those imposing torture on someone else. “a real victory for the accused…was for the criminal to accept responsibility for his own crime and himself sign what had been skillfully and obscurely constructed by the preliminary investigation…they must if possible judge and condemn themselves.” it is outwardly stated, “the confession, an act of the criminal.”

3. torture– to return to a Foucault favorite, this infliction of severe physical pain as means of punishment is actually given a completely different definition in the text. in fact, it is defined as “…not savage…a regulated practice.” i feel that this definition of the term offers a new perspective on the act. torture is so unbeknownst to our society today that hearing it defined as “not savage” is almost offensive seeing as those being tortured were humans like ourselves.

However, it puts the whole judicial system into perspective, perhaps. as we look down upon people who, hundreds of years ago, practiced torture and say they were barbarous, is it possible that they would look at penal system today and say we are cowards? Would they feel that there has been an evolution or progression in punishment like we see it? maybe two moot points, but a point nonetheless. i just find it to be very interesting that the ultimate point of the judicial system is to produce justice and that, while embracing the differences between Foucault’s time period and our own in terms of punishment, both eras felt and feel as though they were achieving the same outcome: justice; however, going about it in two polar opposite ways: torturous to humane. it is fascinating that two different peoples feel that the exact same outcome can be produced from two completely opposite acts. i digress from my main point being torture.

conversion – Boston like Rodgers become a model narrative for the people to follow because of her rdedication to God. The story of the conversion was the aim of these narratives because it exposed the criminal mind as being unable to bear their own criminal acts. It leaves people with the thought that although there may be no hope to resurrect your life here on Earth, if you are penitent and able to renounce your former life you can become a monument of God’s mercy and may secure your spot in eternal bliss.

Counsel – The role of the ministry was to help encourage criminals to repent and begin life anew by condemning the former life. This counsel was fairly instrumental in shaping the narratives we read because without the executors of God’s will helping to change the minds of these criminals they surely would not have been selected to mass produce and distribute among the public. It is interesting to note though that both of the conversion narratives of Rodgers and Boston ignored such counseling until they knew that the final days on earth were numbered, only accepting God and repenting after being imprisoned for a crime punishable by death.

Stealing- Frasier is obviously a thief, and a prolific one at that: almost his entire narrative is a list of things he stole (cheese, fabric, shoes, money). Interestingly, many of his robberies are settled outside of the justice system—he settles the score with the people from whom he stole, presumably by returning what wasn’t his. He tells us how on one occasion he stole a piece of linen and threw it away simply for revenge.

Conscience- Frasier mention his conscience towards the end of his narrative, once he has already escaped from the prison in which he awaits execution. After taking one pair of shoes and a few pieces of clothing he suddenly, inexplicably, “found what I had never experienced in all my scene of villainy before, which was the working of a guilty conscience” (157). It proves to be a rather ineffective sense of guilt, as Frasier says that he ignores it and then continues to steal his way through New England.