History of the penal system
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Prison is just one of a number of sanctions available to the courts to deal with those who commit criminal offences. Imprisonment today is the harshest sanction available, but this has not always been the case.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries sanctions for criminal behaviour tended to be public events which were designed to shame and deter; these included the ducking stool, the pillory, whipping, branding and the stocks. At the time the sentence for many other offences was death.
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