... power to modern disciplinary techniques is attributed to a general 'humanisation' that accompanied the process of modernisation and Enlightenment. Humanist reformers objected to what they perceived as a dysfunction of the judicial system linked to "surplus power" which identified the power to punish with the personal power of the sovereign. The perceived usurpation of human rights due to the cruel nature of sovereign torture led to a new strategy of punishment couched in the general theory of social contract (Cousins and Hussain 1984:181). The transition to modern disciplinary power and toward imprisonment as the main method of punishment was based on the idea that each citizen by virtue of his status as citizen has accepted the laws of society including those of punishment. Crime, in this model, is targeted as a violation of the social pact and the justification for punishment is the defence of society as opposed to vengeance ...

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