Abstract:

Abstract In this article, the change in the perspective of punishing is analyzed in terms of Foucault’s ideas. According to Foucault, there is an analogousness between the change in the implication of punishing and the transformation of government. In the era of traditional government, punishment was regarded as a violent suffering upon the criminal’s body. The aim of punishment in this era was to reestablish the king’s authority. With the trasformation of the government, the body of the criminal was started to be seen as a body that should be isolated and disciplined. After that, the aim of punishment became to discipline the body with the intention of making the criminal obedient and productive. These changes in the regime of punishment and execution according to the types of government in history are explained here with the help of Foucault’s works. The replacement of public and grand punishments applied to criminals with secluded and new technics which are more than just punishment is going to be explained in this work. Furthermore; the change from tormenting criminals to the softening of punishments after reform movements, disciplinarian goverments and the panapticon prison system which shows the traits of discipline most apparently are being mentioned here, as well. Finally, how the transition to prison system took place and how the governmet power shows itself in this punishing systems are examined.