
Arts & Ideas Crime and punishment medieval to modern
6 snips
Feb 20, 2026 
Guest
Lord Jonathan Sumption
Guest
Stephen Shapiro
Guest
Joanna Hardy-Susskind
Guest
Scout Tzofiya Bolton
Guest
Stephanie Brown
Jonathan Sumption, former Supreme Court judge and medieval historian; Stephen Shapiro, cultural historian versed in Foucault; Joanna Hardy-Susskind, criminal defence barrister and broadcaster; Scout Tzofiya Bolton, poet with lived prison experience; Stephanie Brown, criminologist researching medieval justice. They compare medieval community-based investigations with modern courts. They debate public spectacle versus surveillance, prison failures and alternatives, and how media shapes punishment.
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Prison Is A Modern Invention
- Imprisonment as punishment emerged in the 18th–19th centuries as a supposedly more humane alternative to death.
- Lord Jonathan Sumption links modern penal architecture and codified sentencing to that period.
A Prisoner Misdiagnosed And Confused
- Scout Tzofiya Bolton recounts entering prison during a psychotic episode after a misdiagnosed illness.
- She describes being mystified by procedures and later finding unexpected community sympathy online.
From Spectacle To Surveillance
- Foucault argues public, brutal punishments asserted monarchic power, while prisons claim humane reform.
- Stephen Shapiro highlights Foucault's point that prisons may produce criminals rather than reform them.
