The Roots of Evil: A Social History of Crime and Punishment

By Christopher Hibbert

Book Overview

Hibbert tries to show by reference to history of punishments, to the reactions of those who suffered them or have been threatened by them, and to the endeavors of those who have concerned themselves with the criminal and the prevention of crime, that cruelty punishment has an inevitable tendency to produce cruelty in people.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0313201986
• ISBN13: 9780313201981
• Release Date: May 1978
• Publisher: Praeger
• Length: 524 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent history of how civilizations have dealt with crime

This book is a very thorough review on how societies dealt with the problem of crime including its relationships to criminals such as pirates being used initially in the naval armed forces, used against other criminal elements like Jonathan Wild and the development of the convict system in Australia and the penal system in the USA. It primarily deals with Britain and the United States. For example, it discusses how they developed law enforcement authorities starting wtih London and then New York and then elsewhere. It's a very thorough read on societies' relationship to its criminal element and how the criminal element operated within society and the evolution of societies' means of dealing with it.