Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Convict labor--Iowa; Convict labor; Iowa;
Abstract
Forms of punishment are historically specific. They are only realized in particular economic, political and ideological conditions. In this sense, imprisonment is a relatively recent historical phenomenon. Its rise can be argued to have accompanied the emergence of a modern capitalist market system. This thesis attempts to merge sociological and historical approaches to the study of penal policy by studying the development of convict labor in the United States and Iowa in relation to the development of the American economy. Convict labor was the country's dominant penal practice from the Civil War to the Great Depression in the United States and in Iowa. During the post-Civil War period, prisons remained financially solvent by leasing or contracting convict labor to private businessmen. Abuses were common and opposition arose from humanitarians, organized labor, and business leaders. This tempered the abuse of convict labor in the north, as penal practice slowly moved from private systems of labor to state-use labor. The same pattern was followed in Iowa. However, economic considerations remained dominant and private systems of convict labor were not eliminated until the advent of the Great Depression, which killed the markets for the goods produced by convicts. Thus, early penal policy was largely determined by economic, rather than by philosophical considerations.
Year of Submission
1980
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
First Advisor
Steven
Second Advisor
Gene M. Lutz
Third Advisor
Charles Quirk
Date Original
1980
Object Description
1 PDF file (133 leaves)
Copyright
©1980 William Farrell
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Farrell, William, "A Socio-Historical Study of Convict Labor in Iowa" (1980). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2610.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2610
Comments
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