Systems of punishment for much of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were bloody and cruel; they rested on ideas of:

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Historically, punishment was seen as a means of exacting revenge or retribution for crimes committed rather than attempting to rehabilitate the offender. The emphasis was on inflicting pain and suffering as a form of payback for the harm that had been caused. This led to a system of cruel and often bloody punishments that were meant to deter others from committing similar crimes.

Systems of Punishment for Much of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth