Summary

In “The gentle way in punishment,” Foucault continues his analysis of eighteenth century penal reform, listing six rules that characterize its “whole technology of representation” (104).

The first rule is that there must be a clear link between a crime and its penalty. The reformers desired that there should be a rational connection between the crime and “the sign” of its penalty, so that punishment is not the arbitrary consequence of sovereign power. The second rule is that the representation of punishment should reduce the urge to commit the crime and increase the desire to avoid the penalty. In this way, the penalty should instill good habits over bad ones; Foucault quotes one reformer who claims that “the best way of punishing them is to employ them. Against a bad passion, a good habit” (106). The third rule states that penalties should have an appropriate...