Prisons originated in the U.S. during the 18th Century as an alternative to public executions and floggings. The prison system was based on the ideal of rehabilitation, namely that prisons could change the character and behavior of the prisoner. The author argues that the most desirable penal policy involves the swift punishing of blameworthy behavior to the degree of the defendant's culpability. The idea of just punishment has a wide consensus, upholds society's moral authority, and strips the rehabilitative ideal of its pretentiousness.