Topic IX: Punishment

Topic IX
Control, punishment and victims: Punishment…read more

One justification for punishing offenders is that it presents future crime
This can be done through;
Deterrence: Punishing the individuals discourages them from future offending e.g.
Thatcher's Conservative government's `short, sharp shock' regime
Rehabilitation: Punishment can be used to reform of change offenders so they no
longer offend e.g. providing education and training for offenders
Incapacitation: Using punishment to remove the offender's capacity to offend
again e.g. cutting off hands or chemical castration
Punishment: Retribution
Retribution means `paying back'
It is a justification for punishing crime that have already been committed, rather
than preventing future crimes…read more

Durkheim: A functionalist perspective
Argue that the function of punishment is to uphold social solidary and shared values
Punishment is primary expressive ­ it express society's emotions of moral outrage at the
offence
Durkheim identifies two types of justice, corresponding to two types of society;
Retributive justice: in traditional society, solidarity between individuals produces a strong
collective conscience. Which, when offended responds with vengeful passion to repress the
wrongdoer. Punishment is severe and cruel, its motivation is purely expressive
Restitutive Justice: In modern society, there is extensive specialisation and solidity is based on
interdependence between individuals. Crime damages this interdependence so is necessary
to repair via compensation…read more

Evaluation
Can account for all types of crime and how they would be punished
Traditional societies do sometimes have restitutive rather than retributive justice
His explanation is too simplistic and doesn't account for individual differences
Doesn't consider how punishment is positive for all members of society e.g. Wrongly accused
Could potentially be socially sensitive…read more

Marxism: Capitalism & Punishment
They argue that punishment serves the interests of the bourgeois
The function of punishment is to maintain existing social order; `repressive state apparatus'
Thompson: 18th century punishments e.g. Hanging were part of a `rule of terror'
The form of punishment reflects the economic base on society
Rushce & Otto: Each type of economy has its own corresponding penal system
Under capitalism imprisonment becomes the dominant form of punishment as the capitalist
economy is based on the exploitation of wage labour
Melossi and Pavarni: Imprisonment as reflecting capitalist relations of production e.g.
Capitalism puts a price on the workers time ­ prisoners `do time' to `pay' for their crimes
The prison and factory have similar disciplinary styles of ruling…read more

Evaluation
Unequal countries tend to have higher rates of imprisonment
Left Realists: Marxism absolves criminals of being responsible for their crimes
Doesn't explain why occasionally members of the capitalist class do get punished
Does not propose any solutions…read more