Theories of Punishment

• Punishment is the infliction of a penalty as retribution for an offence

• Crime requires punishment

1

• Involves inflicting something that is assumedly negative to the individual on the receiving end
• Behaviourism has two types of punishment, positive and negative

• Positive is adding something unpleasant or unwanted

• Negative is removing something desirable, that the individual being punished wanted

2

• The individual who inflicted the punishment meant to do so for a specific reason

• Punishments are made to protect society

• Prevent future offending

• To provide rehabilitation
• To deter individuals from committing crimes
• To bring justice for the victim

• Those who order punishment upon an individual are seen as having the right to do so

• Judge

• Jury

• Police

• CPS

• The occasion for punishment inflicted is an action or failure to act which infringes a law, rule or custom

• Crime leads to punishment

• The individual punished has played a voluntary part in the infringement

• Case Study = Mick Philpott 2013

• Jailed for life for killing 6 children in a house fire

• Judge stated his relationships were marked by control, aggression and fear

• The punisher’s reason to punish is to offer justification for doing so

• Case Study = Amanda Hutton

• Convicted of manslaughter for negligent behaviour to the point her baby died in order to feed her alcohol addiction

• Some argue that this wasn’t a justifiable reason for punishment, and that she should’ve got murder rather than manslaughter

• The belief or intention of the person who orders something to be done

• In England and wales short term custody was associated with higher re offending rates in comparison to community and suspended sentence orders

• 13,700 or 37.9% of young offenders re offended within a year of receiving a caution, non-custodial sentence or  release from custody

• The idea that the harm inflicted upon society by an offender should be counterbalanced by a proportionate punishment

• Suggesting that punishment is a deserved consequence of behaviour

• Punishing is a duty to everyone

• The offender deserves to be punished

• Punishment is not revenge, only the offender should suffer

• Punishment is justified by its predicted future consequences

• Utility of punishment should reduce the frequency in which people break laws and rules that are made for a contented society

• To deter offenders from reoffending

• To place the offender somewhere they cannot offend anymore

• Punishing an offender results in a greater good for the majority of people involved

• Useful for rehabilitation to reduce offending rates

• Believes that it is okay for more than just the offender to suffer as it is for the greater good

• Both traditions are reflected in public opinion

• 2 out of 5 members of the public believe the offender should be given what they deserve

• 3 out of 5 members of the public endorse aims like deterrence, public protection and reform

• Offenders can come from disadvantaged backgrounds- socially and economically

• Offenders may have been victims of criminal abuse during their childhood

• When seeing deprivation and victimisation within an offender’s past it could be argued that in a humane society offenders are deserving of rehabilitative endeavours according to Crow 2001

• Retribution believes that these crimes are so severe they deserve the death penalty

• Utilitarian Theory believes that these crimes eliminate the dangerous individuals from society, act as a deterrence from committing these crimes, educates people of how evil murder is and satisfies the outraged

• Humanitarian Approach believes that these crimes are false positives and deserve rehabilitation