AC2.2 Discuss the aims of punishment

Question 1

What is retribution as an aim of punishment?

Answer 1

• paying back, or inflicting vengeance on an offender in response to their criminal act
• the punishment given should be proportionate to the harm done
• this aim fits the death penalty for murderers
• it aims to allow society to express its moral outrage at the offender
• retribution is justification for punishing crimes already committed, it is not a way of preventing future crimes

Question 2

What are the criticisms of retribution as an aim of punishment?

Answer 2

• sometimes offenders deserve forgiveness or a chance to make amends, not just punishment
• if there is a fixed tariff of penalties, punishment has to be inflicted, even where no good will come of it
• there are disagreement over which crimes are serious and which crimes aren’t which makes proportionality hard

Question 3

What theories link to retribution?

Answer 3

Right realism - the aim of retribution assumes offenders are rational actors who consciously choose to engage in crime and are fully responsible for their actions and must suffer the outrage of society for committing the crime
Functionalism - Durkheim suggests the moral outrage that society expresses acts as boundary maintenance. Punishing the offender reminds everyone of the difference between right and wrong

Question 4

Describe and explain the aim of rehabilitation

Answer 4

• the idea that punishment can be used to reform and change offenders so they don’t committ crime again
• it doesn’t focus on punishing past offences instead it uses treatment programs to change future criminal behaviour
• addresses issues that lead to the offending
• examples of treatment programs include; education and training programs so prisoners can avoid unemployment; anger management courses like ART; drug treatment and testing orders and programmes to treat alcohol dependence

Question 5

What are some criticisms of rehabilitation as an aim of punishment?

Answer 5

• needs offenders who actually want to change
• require a lot of resources which can be expensive
• right realists argue it has limited success because many go on to reoffend after rehab programmes
• Marxists criticise rehab programmes for shifting the responsibility for offending onto the individulas own failures rather than how capitalism leads to crime

Question 6

What theories link to rehabilitation

Answer 6

• left realism favours rehab in that they regard social factors such as unemployment, poverty and lack of educational opportunities as causes of crime, so addressing these needs among offenders will help reduce offending
• Skinner’s operant learning theory supports the use of token economies to encourage offenders to produce more acceptable behaviour
• Eysenck’s personality theory favours the use of aversion therapy to change offenders behaviour

Question 7

Describe and explain the aim of deterrence

Answer 7

• uses punishment or fear of punishment to prevent an offender from offending.
• punishments convince the offender it is not worth repeating the experience
• general deterrence is aimed at deterring the whole of society so making an example of an individual will teach everyone else a lesson as well in the past this one done by public executions, floggings. Today we are likly to learn about them from the media

Question 8

What are some criticisms of deterrence

Answer 8

• there is very little evidence that boot camps reduce youth reoffending
• half of all prisoners re-offend within one year of leaving suggesting it is not an effective deterrent
• it assumes would be offenders no the punishments but they may be ignorant of penalties
• it assumes offenders are rational actors when they may not be
• how do we decide how severe a punishment needs to be to deter would be offenders

Question 9

What theories link to deterrence?

Answer 9

• right realism favours it as a mean of crime prevention
• rational choice theory sees individuals as rational actors who weigh up the costs and benefits of committing the crime therefore severe punishments should deter offending
• social learning theory is relevant to understand general deterrence because if would-be offenders see a model being punished for offending they will be less likely to imitate the behaviour