Religious attitudes to punishment

• Aims of punishment


  • Deterrence
  • Protection
  • Reformation
  • Retribution
  • Reparation
  • Vindication
• Sarvodaya


  Welfare for everyone (Mahatma Gandhi's teaching)
• Many Hindus follow Gandhi's ideals and the teachings of Gurus and Swamis - that all atman make spiritual progress if they treat one another justly. Criminals should face consequences for their wrong actions, but should also be given the opportunity to reform.
• Protection


  (for Hindu communities) an important aim of punishment
• God will be the ultimate judge


  (Christian belief)
• The state


  (exercises justice on God's behalf when sentencing criminals, according to Christians)
• Christians would extend forgiveness to a criminal who has wronged them, but they would also expect justice to be done to that person in the courts. They would want to see prison helping the criminal to reform.
• Jesus: '"A friend of tax collectors and sinners!" Luke 7:34'
• Reformation is an important aim and criterion used in deciding punishment in the UK, because in the long-term, if a criminal can be reformed through their punishment, it can benefit both them and society.
• Issues to assess religious attitudes to offenders

  • The type of crime committed – lesser or serious
  • The violence used and the suffering of the victim
  • The reasons that caused the criminal to commit crime
  • Who has committed the crime and their circumstances
  • Is the criminal old enough to be responsible for their actions?
  • The best punishment considered to serve the aims desired
• Prison


  Punishment of imprisonment is that of a loss of liberty. Prisoners have no choice to live as ordinary people do and are locked in cells for much of the day. They are fed at set times and have to do manual work, like laundry or cleaning, for very little money.
• In 2019/20, the average cost of a prison place in England and Wales was 44.6 thousand British pounds a year.
• There is one suicide per week in English prisons
• Prisons spend, on average, just £1.96 on each inmate's daily food
• 47 per cent of prisoners have no qualifications
• The Prison Reform Trust (PRT)


  • Independent UK charity working to create a just, humane and effective penal system
  • Informs and influences public debate on prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners
  • Holds the state to account for its treatment of vulnerable people in prison
• PRT's main objectives


  • Reducing unnecessary imprisonment and promoting community solutions to crime
  • Improving treatment and conditions for prisoners and their families
  • Promoting equality and human rights in the justice system
• Christians agree that prison should be used as a punishment for serious offences. Having prisons helps keep society safe and provides a place where criminals can be reformed.
• Many Christians will visit prisoners as part of following Jesus' teaching and showing love. Many prisons contain troubled individuals who need social help, education, medical work and life skills; and as Christians there is a duty if care and help which is based in religious teachings.
• Many Hindus are concerned with the welfare of prisoners. They may campaign for prison reform, visit prisoners, or vote for a political party that reflects their views on justice and treating people equally.
• Some Muslims believe that prison life needs to be tough, to act as a deterrent, to prevent prisoners from reoffending. Under Shari'ah law, prisons have less of a role of reforming and more emphasis on corporal punishment.
• Corporal punishment


  Punishing an offender by causing them physical pain, such as whipping, hitting with a cane, branding, or amputation
• Corporal punishment is illegal in the UK but allowed in some other parts of the world, such as Africa, The Middle East, Asia and South America.
• Some Muslims countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, allow caning as punishment for offences such as gambling and sexual promiscuity. A feature of Shari'ah law is that the hand of a thief is amputated as punishment.
• Community service


  Offenders doing unpaid work in the community as punishment, such as removing graffiti, clearing wasteland or decorating public places or buildings. It may also include treatment programs, counselling sessions and basic education services.
• Christians generally that community service is a suitable punishment for fairly minor offences. This is because this type of punishment has a positive aim and offers the chance for an offender to reform, which is in line with the principles of compassion, grace and love.
• For Muslims, community service sentences are rarely used under Shari'ah law because they are not considered a strong enough deterrent to be able to protect society.
• Criminal insanity

  A mental illness or disease that makes it impossible for a defendant to know they were committing a crime or to understand that their actions are wrong. If found criminally insane, the defendant is found 'Not guilty' and required to undergo psychiatric treatment in a mental institution.
• Early Christians believed lunatics were possessed by unclean spirits. This led to many thousands of men, women and children, already burdened with madness, being confined in chains and subjected to routine torture.
• Jesus performed many miracles and healed many people with a variety of different conditions, including what may have been a healing of mental illness in the case of the Gerasene demoniac.