Punishments

Punishments

Introduction

When one thinks of punishments, the thought is automatically linked to a sensation of possible pain. The pain one thinks of may be physical or merely a description of something we do not hold much regard for. The term also reminds one of childhood memories; parents, schools and detention. This sensation is very natural to all human beings. This paper looks at punishment from the criminal justice perspective. It begins by discussing the purpose, or objective, of punishment. It then moves on to how punishment is applied to the criminal justices system and finally, the paper will discuss how institutional objectives can be achieved through punishments.

Discussion

Philosophers, researchers and common men agree that punishments should relatively involve some form of unpleasantness to the victim. The victim must only 'suffer' for an offense that is actual or supposed. It must have caused harm to someone in a way that can be judged. The victim of the punishment must also be proven guilty. If an innocent is punished despite knowing of his innocence, the concept of justice becomes flawed. The individual sentenced to be punished must be done so based on his actions or deeds, not for a natural consequence. Finally, the punishment must be imposed by an authority whose rules and regulations have been violated by the offense. If no rules and regulations are violated, the action can be termed as hostility and not a criminal offense. An act of punishment by the individual offended is not punishment, it is revenge.

The three objectives of punishment are incapacitation, rehabilitation and deterrence. All three are designed in such a way to discourage criminals from going through with their criminal intentions. The concept of deterrence is to create such a system in which the criminal will fear possible punishment and thus refrain from crime. ...