The Theories Behind Prison, Punishment, and Abolition

CrashCourse

This episode of Crash Course Political Theory explores the history, philosophy, and future of the prison system. Host Ellie Anderson examines why societies punish, moving from historical corporal punishment to the development of the modern prison system in the late 1700s. The video breaks down complex concepts like Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon and Michel Foucault's theories on surveillance, helping students understand how physical structures and social observation influence human behavior.