Foucault on Punishment

Michael Foucault's essays highlight the paradigm shift in society from public spectacle to trial intensive coverage. Foucault explains that previously people used to come out in the streets to witness gruesome public executions. The legal process was not as thorough as it is now and led to impulsive and dramatic exchanges of "justice" where people were drawn and quartered or tarred and feathered.

The beginning of the 1800s led to a change where codes were drawn up featuring moral and political justification regarding punishment. Now, punishment remains the most hidden part of the penal process (Foucault 198). Foucault describes the consequences of this shift, "as a result, justice no longer takes public responsibility for the violence that is bound up with its practice" (198). Instead it is the trial and conviction that marks the guilty. 

Recently, public outrage has surrounded the botched execution of Oklahoma prisoner Clayton Lockett. Lockett was a repeat offender convicted of rape and murder who was up for execution. Upon his execution a new strain of lethal drugs were used leaving Lockett "muttering and straining against his restraints before dying of a heart attack 15 minutes later"(Pearce 2014). LA Times article describes both sides of reactions to the botched execution - some who believed Lockett deserved versus those who critique the capital punishment system. President Barack Obama subsequently ordered an investigation into capital punishment proceedings as described The Guardian. Barack asked the Attorney General to investigate implementation of death penalty programs, racial bias, and exonerations of death row prisoners. 

On the other hand, many Americans are not necessarily outraged at Lockett's botched execution, rather they are upset people are sympathizing with Lockett who many believe is a particularly cruel and heinous person who was never apologetic toward his crimes. Some user comments declare Lockett did not suffer enough compared to the suffering of his victims. Although cases of capital punishments occur at a consistent rate in the US with little public care, Lockett's case has reminded people of the moral issues surrounding the death penalty.

Whether it is punishment of the body or the soul, people expect adequate sentencing for heinous crimes committed. Foucault describes the balance and ultimate shift of punishing body to soul but it seems that society is still struggling to find a satisfactory way to punish both morally and justifiably. We continue to use lethal injection yet find that it is not necessarily just or humane where as some people believe lethal injection should be much more painful.