Penology

The Oxford English Dictionary defines penology as "the study of the punishment of crime and prison management," and in this sense it is equivalent with corrections.

Penology is concerned with the effectiveness of those social processes devised and adopted for the prevention of crime, via the repression or inhibition of criminal intent via the fear of punishment.

The word seldom applies to theories and practices of punishment in less formal environments such as parenting, school and workplace correctional measures.

An example of this principle can be found in the Draconian law of Ancient Greece and the Bloody Code which persisted in Renaissance England, when (at various times) capital punishment was prescribed for over 200 offenses.

In this respect, they differ from many previous systems of punishment, for example, England's Bloody Code, under which the penalty of theft had been the same regardless of the value stolen, giving rise to the English expression "It is as well to be hanged for a sheep or a lamb".