Criminal Justice Report: Foucault's Argument on Discipline and Power

This report provides an analysis of Foucault's arguments on discipline and power, primarily focusing on the context of criminal justice and the emergence of the surveillance society. The paper begins by outlining Foucault's core ideas, particularly his assertion that societal behavior is regulated through discipline and the subtle exercise of power and knowledge. It then delves into Bentham's panopticon as a key concept, illustrating how surveillance, both physical and psychological, shapes behavior and limits individual freedom. The report explores historical examples, such as quarantine during plagues, to demonstrate the evolution of power dynamics from overt control to more covert methods. The modern application of the panopticon is discussed, including the use of surveillance cameras and the normalization of behavioral standards in various settings like schools and workplaces. Ultimately, the report highlights how those in power maintain control, even when citizens willingly participate in the system.

Running head: CRIMINAL JUSTICE 1
Criminal justice
Name
Institution

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FOUCAULT’S ARGUMENT ON DISCIPLINE AND POWER
Foucault was a French philosopher who argued that the thought and behavior of a society is
regulated by discipline through social means. It displays how power and knowledge are used to
control the society in subtle ways. Foucault believed that the way the state ensured that it citizens
would stay in line was by punishing them and with time this moved from happening physically
to happening psychologically where they now control the minds of the citizens.
In the past punishment of a criminal was done in the open and the power that those in
authority held was considered to be great. With time the act of punishing wrong doers has shifted
from being tortured by those in power to use of prison systems in the modern world, this may
seem like a form of progress, where individuals are given the opportunity to be free without the
fear of facing negative consequences from those that are in power. Foucault’s argument is
however used to describe how the situation has not really changed, and the dynamics how
punishment is administered in the modern day limits the freedom of an individual just as much as
public punishment did in the past.
Bentham’s panopticon is manifested when surveillance is done from an area that is outside,
i.e. it is not in the same area as the person that is being watched. It is used to describe the
relationship between the people in power and citizens. In the seventeenth century, when a plague
occurred in a particular town, quarantine had to be enforced so as to stop the plague from
spreading. Families in that particular town would go on lockdown and were not allowed to have
contact with the outside world. Surveillance was done by those in power, including the mayor,

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magistrates, intendants and syndics. The syndics were responsible for taking inventory about the
people who were on lockdown, and would have them appear at a window to account for them.
Every aspects of their lives was controlled by those who were in power including the time they
ate, what they ate, how they interacted with others, when they could leave their house and even
when they could have access to medical care.
Soon enough the individuals in the town stopped acting independently since there was always
a set of rules that they were required to follow. The knowledge that they were constantly being
monitored led to them all acting in a similar way and they lost their individuality.
The main goal of carrying out these measures was to ensure that there was order in the town,
and to prevent the spread of the plague among the citizens. It served as a way to show that those
in power were aware of the problem and were doing their part in dealing with it by ensuring that
there was order in the town. In this situation, the people in power were always known. There was
never a doubt on anyone’s mind about who was in charge and everybody knew who to blame in
case there was a negative occurrence in the society that was the fault of those in power. Because
of this the people in power were always aware that the citizens had an influence on who could
lead them.
With time control of citizens has moved from obvious acts, like it was seen in the seventeenth
century when the citizens were kept on lockdown and closely monitored, to other methods that
are less obvious. When it comes to the ways that criminals were tried and punished, in the past
people were tried in public and most times their sentences would also be carried out in public.
But as time went by the trials and punishments became less public until in the modern day
society where the criminals are isolated entirely from the public. This method of punishment
ensures that the whole concept of punishment is not at the forefront of people’s consciousness,

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and it became harder to know who was in power and controlling those actions. This shift in
behavior of those in power came about because those that were in power became aware of the
influence that the citizens had on them staying in power. They therefore came up with ways to
ensure that the power they had was more deeply embedded in the society. They had to do this in
a way that ensured that order was still maintained within the society and at the same time the
citizens’ rights were still being upheld.
The Bentham’s panopticon was used to explain this new concept. It is a building design that is
hexagonal in shape. The guard in charge is usually positioned at the center of the building and
has a view of all the prisoners, but the prisoners cannot see the guard, hence are not aware of
when they are being watched. This affects their behavior since they do not know when the guard
is seeing them, and they are forced to behave the entire time as if they are being watched.
The prisoner thus acts according to how he is expected to act, and not how he, as an
individual would want to act. The panopticon is a concept that is used to show how those in
power use their position to gain control over the minds of those that they are controlling.
In the modern society for example, monitoring how a citizen behaves is not controlled by
physically watching them, but by the use of surveillance cameras. When this device is used, it is
obvious to the citizens that someone is watching them, even though they have no idea who that
person is. This constant surveillance can be viewed as effective as it works in three steps,
surveillance, normalization and examination.

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Surveillance works because a person is least likely to commit an offence if they think that
they are being watched. This leads to normalization where the person will eventually get used to
acting in a particular way and finally examination where the morals of the citizen are critiqued
by the people in power using standards that are set explaining how a good citizen is supposed to
behave.
Bentham’s panopticon theory is applied in many modern day situations, for example in
schools to consider what constitutes of a good student or in the military, to determine how they
are supposed to act. Even though the monitoring is not done by treating the citizen brutally, the
rules are there to determine whether the person is going to be considered good or not. These are
standards that have been normalized, like in the case of a student proper dressing, completing
assignments in time or being active in class, being a good team player, and how good the student
is being determined by how good they are at co-curricular activities or how well they perform in
an exam, or in the work place where the employee is required to dress in a certain way, work for
a particular mount of hours, associate well with other employees and their performance is
evaluated to see whether they are improving or actively contributing to the company or not.
This form of control has become a normal way of living in the modern society and can be
used in a lot of contexts. The irony of the system is that those in power still control the citizens,
but at the same time the citizens participate willingly in it.

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