PUNISHMENT

Punishment and Law

Punishment and Crime Prevention

Punishment is a concept that evolved through psychology. It is used to any change the undesirable or negative behaviour of a person. Punishment leads to reducing the likelihood of the repetition of that behaviour in a person. There are several laws and regulations in a country that ensures the decline in the negative or destructive behaviour in the society. Criminals are those people who break the law and do not abide by the legal system of the country. The legal and judiciary authorities take actions against those people through different means. In United Kingdom, the punishment is allocated on the basis of the degree of severity of the offense or crime. For example, a thief gets lesser degree of punishment than a killer or murderer (Cragg, 2002) (Peter, 2002,, 77).

The UK law divides crime into two main categories. First category is the Non-indictable crime which is a less severe offense. Theft and motoring offences come under this category. The other type of crime is the Indictable offence. It includes more severe crimes such as murder and rape (Peter, 2002,, 77).

These crimes fall into the category of civil or criminal law in the United Kingdom. If the UK law classifies a crime as criminal law then the court takes action against the criminal. It is because the criminal has broken the law of the land. On the other hand, if a person breaks a civil law, court suggests him or her to settle the issue. It can also ask for the compensation of damage or provide a restrain order (Briggs et al, 1996).

The most common type of punishment available in UK includes community services, custodial, fines, probation and suspended sentences. In community services, the criminal has to work for community and he or she ...