Aims of Punishment

• Punishment


  Punishing offenders can take many forms, and can have different aims and intentions
• Aims of Sentencing


  • Punishment of offenders
  • Reduction of crime (including by deterrence)
  • Reform and rehabilitation of offenders
  • Protection of the public
  • Making of reparation by offenders to persons affected by their offences
• Retribution


  Aiming to punish an offender to the level that is deserved
• Retribution


  • It is morally good, regardless of whether it changes their future behaviours
  • It involves an element of gaining revenge
• Just deserts


  Receiving a consequence that they deserve, in a just (fair) way
• Proportionality


  The severity of the punishment should fit the severity of the crime
• Retribution is based on the idea that an offender deserves to receive a punishment
• Retribution justifies punishments for crimes already committed-not a means of preventing future crimes
• Retribution


  The effect may be to deter offenders but this is not it's main aim
• Moral outrage


  The purpose of retribution is for society to express it's moral outrage
• 5 Harmful Things About Retributive Justice


  • Justice becomes like a transaction
  • It can be difficult to consider mitigating factors
  • It prioritises punishment over treatment
  • Offenders are dehumanized
  • It doesn't consider other forms of punishment
• Rehabilitation


  Altering the offender's mindset so that future reoffending can be prevented
• The British Government passed the Penitentiary Act - Made rehabilitation of criminals a function of all prisons


  1779
• Rehabilitation


  • It is a forward-thinking approach that aims to change behaviour and attitudes
  • Aims to prevent reoffending
  • Assumes that offending is the result of freewill and so the behaviour can be changed by the offender
• Community Sentence

  Probation orders - unpaid work or completion of an education or training course, and treatment for addictions such as alcohol or drugs
• Drug Treatment and Testing Order

  Provides supervision on work on drug use
• Individualistic theories of criminality


  Would support rehabilitation as an aim of punishment
• Behaviour modifications treatment such as anger management courses


  Focus on techniques to extinguish undesirable behaviours and promote desirable ones
• Theories of Criminality


  • Social Learning Theory
  • Rational Choice Theory
  • Lombroso's Theory
• Social Learning Theory


  Explains how people learn behaviors through observation and imitation of others, particularly those who are significant to them
• Rational Choice Theory


  Explains that people make logical, calculated decisions based on their goals and the potential costs and benefits of their actions.
• Lombroso's Theory


  Explains criminality
• Individualistic/biological/sociological


  Theories can be categorised as
• Deterrence


  An aim of punishment, and a form of social control
• Individual deterrence


  Aims to ensure the offender does not reoffend
• 46% of adults are reconvicted within one year of release. For those serving sentences of less than 12 months, this increases to 59%.
• Reparation


  Compensating the victim of the crime
• General deterrence


  Aims to prevent potential offenders from committing a crime
• Examples of Reparation

  1. Paying a sum of money to the victim

  2. Paying a fine to the government

  3. Repaying society – unpaid community work

  4. Direct reparation – restorative justice
• Deterrence - Social Learning Theory


  1. Vicarious: This refers to learning through observation of others, rather than through direct experience.

  2. Punishment: Punishment refers to negative consequences that follow a behavior. When people observe someone else experiencing punishment after engaging in a particular behavior, they are less likely to engage in that behavior themselves.

  3. Observe: People learn by observing the behavior of others and the consequences that follow.
• Restorative Justice (RJ)


  Can take the form of victim-offender mediation through direct contact between the offender and victim or indirect communication involving third parties
• Severity of punishment


  Important to distinguish from certainty of punishment
• Aims of Restorative Justice


  • Victim satisfaction: Reduce fear and ensure they feel 'paid back' for the harm that has been done to them
  • Engagement with perpetrator: Ensure they are aware of the consequences of their actions, make reparation, and agree a plan for their restoration in the community
  • Community Capital: Increase public confidence in the criminal justice system and other agencies with a responsibility for delivering a response to anti-social behaviour
• Rational Choice Theory


  Supports the idea of deterrence, as the actor considers the benefits versus the risks of committing a crime
• Incapacitation


  A sentence of the court to prevent further offending, could include imprisonment
• Means of incapacitation


  • Long prison sentence
  • Curfew orders
  • Electronic tagging
  • Castration of sex offenders
  • Cutting off right hands for theft
• Incapacitation


  Punishment must have a purpose for society by protecting us from dangerous criminals
• Biological theory, such as Lombroso's


  Favours the use of incapacitation rather than rehabilitation
• Criminality is genetic and inherited


  Genetics can't be changed, so people with the genetic tendency need to be removed from society