2.2✅

• a lot of people believe that punishment is an effective way to prevent or reduce crime
• other people argue that offenders deserve to be punished anyway, regardless of whether or not this reduces crime
• in this topic we will discuss the different aims or purposes that punishment can have
• the different aims or purposes that punishment can have are retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, public protection and reparation
• retribution is expressing society’s outrage at crime
• rehabilitation is making offenders change their behaviour
• deterrence is discouraging future offending
• public protection from offenders
• reparation is making good the harm caused by crime
• retribution literally means paying back, it involves inflicting punishment on an offender as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act
• retribution is based on the idea that criminals should get their ‘just deserts’
• ‘just deserts’: offenders deserve to be punished and society is morally entitled to take its revenge
• ‘just deserts’: the offender should be made to suffer for having breached society’s moral code
• proportionality: punishment should fit the crime - it should be equal or proportionate to the harm done, as in the idea of ‘an eye for an eye, a life for a life’
• proportionality: this is why some people argue that murderers should suffer the death penalty
• expressing moral outrage: although retribution might have good effects (such as deterring potential offenders) this is not its purpose
• expressing moral outrage: it is simply a way for society to express its moral condemnation or outrage at the offender
• expressing moral outrage: punishment is morally good in itself regardless of whether it changes the offender’s future behaviour
• expressing moral outrage: retribution is a justification for punishing crimes already committed not a way of preventing future ones
• retribution e.g: hate crimes such as racially aggravated offences carry an ‘uplift’ or higher tariff sentence
• retribution e.g: the maximum penalty for grievous bodily harm is 5 years’ imprisonment, but this can be increased to 7 years if it is proven to be racially motivated
• retribution e.g: uplift reflects society’s greater outrage at the offence
• retribution theory: retribution is linked to the right realist theories of criminality such as rational choice theory
• retribution theory: like these theories retribution assumes that offenders are rational actors who consciously choose to commit their crimes + are fully responsible for their actions
• retribution theory: they must therefore suffer the outrage of society for what they have chosen to do
• retribution theory: for functional sociologists such as Durkheim the moral outrage that retribution expresses performs the function of boundary maintenance
• retribution theory: pushing the offender reminds everyone else of the difference between right + wrong
• criticisms of retribution: it can be argues that offenders deserve forgiveness, mercy or a chance to make amends not just punishment
• criticisms of retribution: if there is a fixed tariff of penalties, punishment gas to be inflicted even where no good is coming out of it e.g. on a remorseful offender who will commit no further crimes
• criticisms of retribution: how do we decide what is a proportionate penalty or ’just desert’ for each crime? People disagree about which crimes are more serious that others
• rehabilitation is the idea that punishment can be used to reform or change offenders so they no longer offend + can go on to live a crime-free life
• rehabilitation: instead of focusing on punishing past offences, as retribution does, rehabilitation uses various treatment programmes to change the offender’s future behaviour by addressing the issues which led to their offending
• rehabilitation policies include education + training programmes, anger management courses and Drug Treatment + Testing Orders
• education + training programmes: for prisoners so they can avoid unemployment and ‘earn an honest living’ on release
• anger management courses: for violent offenders e.g. Aggression Replacement Training (ART) and other cognitive behavioural therapy programmes
• Drug Treatment + Testing Orders: + programmes to treat alcohol dependence
• rehabilitation: community sentences often include requirements for offenders to engage in such programmes as a part of their sentence
• rehabilitation - support: rehabilitation policies generally require offenders to actively want to change their lives but they often also require considerable input resources + professional support from therapists, probation officers or others to help them achieve change
• rehabilitation - support: this is particularly so where their offending has led to their exclusion from mainstream society + where they need to be reintegrated into the community such as upon their release from prison
• rehabilitation theory: individualisatic theories of criminality see rehabilitation as a significant aim of punishment