Change over time; It’s a common theme throughout the world. The notion of punishment is no different in this regard. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the common idea for punishing people was retaliation by the king and was to be carried out in the town square. In what seemed like all of a sudden there was a shift in human thinking, the concept of punishment evolved towards a more psychological approach versus a public embarrassment/torture approach. The following paragraphs will discuss the development of prisons and what actually gives people the right to punish; as well as the overall meaning and function of prisons. Michel Foucault's work in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison will help us in this process. The first thing to consider is the transition from a medieval conception of punishment to a more modern conception. What triggered this seemingly sudden change in thinking? Foucault describes how punishment was managed on the first page of his book. He used the example of Robert-François Damiens, the man who attempted to assassinate King Louis XV, and how he was used as a public display to show the other residents of the city what would happen to them if such act had to be attempted again. This is a specific example of how punishment is used in the form of torture and public spectacle to instill fear in the public mind. A major aspect of the punishment was the body, the way of torturing it and being able to show it to the people. The public display was ceremonial-like, as if it were an important gathering for the public, very similar to a state fair or carnival. All this changed in the following decades, "the disappearance of tortured, dismembered, amputated bodies, symbolically branded...... middle of paper ...... medieval style of punishment was a kind of vendetta against the people who had committed crimes. because it was considered a crime against the crown. Medieval thought transformed into a more humanitarian thought process by removing the public spectacle aspect of punishment from the script and integrating it into the private sector of punishment. The new way of thinking also brought a social contract aspect to society. So, if a person committed a crime, it was not against the king or a higher power, but against the very people with whom the criminal lives, and they have the right to punish. Works cited Foucault, Michel. “Torture and Punishment.” Monitor and punish: the birth of the prison. London: Penguin, 1991. 8+. Print.Myser, Michael. “The hard sell.” CNNMargent. Cable News Network, March 15, 2007. Web. March 18, 2014. “Torture.” Merriam Webster. Merriam-Webster, nd Web. March 18. 2014.