Roles of punishment in justice

Roles of punishment in justice

According to Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, various achievements can be accomplished by punishing the offenders. The lawmakers have come up with various forms of punishments according to the crime committed. According to the perspective of Zeus in the Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, his monarchy needs Prometheus and obedience by punishing any human who has broken the law. Offenders should be given punishments that will bring positive outcomes in a society. Usually, a clearly defined form of punishment will lead to clear conclusions about what form of punishment best fits that particular goal. Punishment is the imposition of pathetic outcome upon a certain individual which is given out by the authority as a response of breaking some law which may include a fine or confinement. Punishments do play important roles in justice. These roles include deterrence, rehabilitation, restoration, among others.

Deterrence is one of the most important roles played by punishment. According to Andenaes, deterrence prevents people in a society from committing crimes (Andenaes, 1966). There also exist two types of deterrence, which include specific deterrence and general deterrence. In specific deterrence, an individual defendant is considered where the government punishes an individual lawbreaker who will never again commit another crime since that individual will have a fear of being given the same punishment or punishment that is worse. In general deterrence, a large group of people is considered where these people will learn of a particular punishment given to an individual by the government so they will have a fear of committing any crime since they may be given the same punishment or worse. For instance, when a certain group learns that a particular individual was punished by a life sentence in prison, it will deter people from committing crimes, and this will act as a source of justice.

Another important role played by punishment in justice is rehabilitation. According to Allen, rehabilitation prevents any crime that may be committed in the future by changing a defendant’s behavior to a better one (Allen, 1959). There are various rehabilitation centers, which include counseling programs, treatment center placement, vocational, and educational centers. The court can also decide to put together the rehabilitation center with the incarceration center. For instance, those who break the law by selling illegal drugs need to participate in rehabilitation with is combined with probation instead of being taken to incarceration. This can reduce the population in jails and prisons. The rehabilitation centers can rehabilitate the defendant so that he or she can find it hard to commit the crime repeatedly. It differs from other roles like deterrence in that the rehabilitation ambition is to change the defendant’s attitude towards what they have committed and come to see what they ever did was not right.

Retribution and restoration are also considered as the roles being played by punishment in justice. The crimes being committed by offenders usually give various benefits to the offender leaving the other victim with a huge loss. Therefore, the punishment gives to this offender is taken to be a measure of retributive justice in that its goal is to make sure that the offender also suffers some loss. The suffering of the offender is considered as a goal. However, the offender’s suffering does not add any value to the victim. The society considers punishment as one way of bringing justice in the society. On the other hand, restoration is taken as a punishment for less crimes and minor offenses. It may be taken in the form where the criminal rights the wrong he or she has done. The victims of such offenses are also compensated, which is part of the goals of restorative justice. Usually, the victims play a major role in the process whereby the offenders are forced to take responsibility of whatever they have committed. This is done by either apologizing or refunding something that had been taken away. This kind of role particularly aims at making the offender avoid committing such crimes in the future.

In addition to the above roles of punishment in justice, there is also education and denunciation as one of them. People in various societies can be taught the social norms for what is correct. This is done by explaining the punishment for positive prevention. This can act as a reinforcement in the society of offenders. Punishment in a community can serve as a means for a society to consider denunciation as an act of crime. It also has another function whereby it prevents justice by accepting anger from groups of people, and this helps in preventing crime, which may be committed in the future by stigmatizing the lawbreakers. The critics of education and denunciation model usually take into consideration the citation of evolutionary problems with the perception that an act of punishment for a social signal system emanated if the punishment was not effective. The education and denunciation critics usually argue that there are some individuals who like taking their time and energy in punishing other individuals, including the expected losses of the punished individuals who could have been selected against if the punishment provided could have served no function apart from signals which could have emanated to work with means which are less risky.

Another role that is played by punishment in justice is incapacitation and the protection of society. Incapacitation, as one of the forms of punishment, is referred to as the removal of the ability of the defendant to commit other forms of crimes. There is a way that a government uses to separate the lawbreakers from other people in society, and this is some form of imprisonment. For instance, those people who used to commit crimes in the British had their dumping grounds in Australia, and this enabled the community to be separated from those offenders. By doing this, they reduce the ability of various lawbreakers to commit various crimes in society. Those people that have committed theft offenses may have their hands removed so that they may not be able to commit the same crime again.

Hebrew prophetic texts contained various punishments given to lawbreakers. According to Evans, Noah gave a special punishment to Canaan, whereby he cursed Canaan to be a servant to the servants of his brothers (Evans, 1980). Special punishments were among them. For instance, when Lot’s family was running away from Sodom and Gomorrah’s destructions, the wife to Lot looked back, which was against the instructions, and she became a pillar of salt. The Hebrew prophetic books offered death as punishment to its offenders. Among the crimes which were given death punishment included murder and adultery among others. This was a permanent punishment, and it deterred people from committing crimes with fear of being given the same punishment or worse. For instance, if a man has been found with a crime of raping a betrothed virgin, that man will face a death penalty so as to prevent other people from committing such crimes. Other crimes that were given the death penalty included worshipping other gods; a woman who was not a virgin in her wedding night was also given this penalty and cursing the name of the Lord and taking it in vain. According to the Hebrew prophetic books, if an organ in your body commits a crime, it is, therefore, necessary to eliminate that particular organ from your body so that it does not commit another crime again. For instance, if your eyes commit a crime of coveting, then it is better if they were removed.

Conclusion

A specific role of justice centers is to improve the bad behaviors of various victims who have been found committing various crimes in society. They should also work hard in preventing crimes in societies. The offenders are given punishments by the authority according to how big or small your crime is. The permanent punishments include death punishments and life sentences in prisons. These punishments are for crimes such as murder. Other crimes can be given small punishments like compensating someone for something stolen from that particular victim. There is great evidence that the procedures involved in justice not only reduces backsliding but also improves the outcomes of the victims. On the other hand, the punishments given to various offenders may be taken as a way of reinstating the pain and harm created to victims. Usually, a lot of destruction can arise, especially when an individual is a victim of a lawbreaker. Sometimes victims may feel guilty, and they opt to punish themselves due to the damage they usually incur.

References

Allen, F. A. (1959). Criminal justice, legal values, and the rehabilitative ideal. J. Crim. L. & Criminology, 50, 226.

Andenaes, J. (1966). The general preventive effects of punishment. University of Pennsylvania

Evans, W. M. (1980). From the land of Canaan to the land of Guinea: the strange odyssey of the “sons of Ham.” The American Historical Review, 85(1), 15-43. Law Review, 114(7), 949-983