Bishop Butler on Crime and Punishment in the British Empire

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

The editor of the works of Bishop Butler, the eighteenth-century Anglican divine, (University of Rochester Press, 2006), did a criminological key word search of Butler’s works and juxtaposed the crime quotes in Butler with the top quotes about Butler in the criminology literature. Butler’s view of crime and the criminologist’s view of Butler’s view invite comparison. This is important because as one of the chief ideologues of the British Empire, Butler’s deployment of the key words creates a personal morality with political-economic significance, and, for theists, cosmic meaning, which the British used to indoctrinate all imperial agents during the 19th century. Words used in the search are: crime, trial, evidence, cumulative case, guilt, innocence, resentment, punishment, redemption, forgiveness.

Author

• David Edmund White, St. John Fisher College