Punishment

Question 1

Who is an offender?

Answer 1

Someone who has committed a crime by breaking the law.

Question 2

Who is a victim?

Answer 2

The person who has had a crime or offence committed against them.

Question 3

What are four aims of punishment?

Answer 3

Retribution, deterrence, protection, and reform.

Question 4

What is retribution?

Answer 4

Paying back to the offender the harm they have caused to others.

Question 5

What is retribution based on?

Answer 5

The ancient principle of lex talionis - ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth.’

Question 6

What is protection?

Answer 6

It removes the offender from society so they can’t cause harm anymore.

Question 7

What is deterrence?

Answer 7

It punishes those who break the law to warn others and stop them doing the same.

Question 8

What are examples of deterrence?

Answer 8

Imprisonment, fines, community service.

Question 9

What does protection use?

Answer 9

Commonly, it uses imprisonment.

Question 10

What does reform aim to do?

Answer 10

Reform aims to make the offender see the error of their ways and change their behaviour.

Question 11

What does reform often use?

Answer 11

Prison, to teach offenders new skills.

Question 12

What do all punishments rest on?

Answer 12

The principle of just deserts, that the offender receives the punishment appropriate to their crime.

Question 13

How is revenge different from punishment?

Answer 13

Revenge is inflicting harm on someone without authority in retaliation (paying back) for something which was considered to be unfair.

Question 14

Why is retribution based on the idea of fair play?

Answer 14

Because it is only fair that if someone breaks the law when everyone else is keeping to it, they should be punished.

Question 15

What is the problem with retribution?

Answer 15

That the punishment might be judged to be as morally bad as the crime itself.

Question 16

What is the problem with deterrence?

Answer 16

Knowing whether a punishment actually does stop others from offending.

Question 17

What is the problem with protection?

Answer 17

That it is not a punishment as retribution and deterrence are; prison might appear to be a soft option for the offender.

Question 18

What is the problem with reform?

Answer 18

That a high number of offenders reoffend.

Question 19

What is the most common form of punishment?

Answer 19

Prison

Question 20

What is the aim of imprisonment?

Answer 20

To protect society and to reform the offender.

Question 21

What does prison provide a means of?

Answer 21

Rehabilitation, to adapt to life back in society.

Question 22

Who is ‘prison as rehabilitation’ supported by?

Answer 22

Utilitarians and Christian reformers.

Question 23

In 2014-15, what was the reoffending rate among adults released from prison in the UK?

Answer 23

23.8%

Question 24

In 2014-15, what was the reoffending rate among juveniles released from prison in the UK?

Answer 24

37.8%

Question 25

What do you need to get the balance right of in prison?

Answer 25

Between reform and retribution.

Question 26

What do many people think about prisons?

Answer 26

That they are too comfortable and that conditions should be harsher to make retribution more effective and to be a greater deterrent to others.

Question 27

What do people argue that is an effective punishment?

Answer 27

Loss of freedom

Question 28

What does the Prison Reform Trust argue?

Answer 28

That prisons should be a last resort and only used for serious offences.

Question 29

What are the downsides of prisons?

Answer 29

That they are overcrowded and don't protect inmates from bad influences; they are 'universities of crime' and make offenders worse not better citizens.

Question 30

What does overcrowded prisons do to inmates?

Answer 30

It depersonalises them and this makes it very hard to fulfil the aim of reform and to prepare offenders for the outside world.

Question 31

What does capital punishment use?

Answer 31

The death penalty to punish offenders.

Question 32

In which countries is it used in?

Answer 32

China, India, Iran, Singapore, USA, etc. (It is no longer used in the UK.)

Question 33

What is capital punishment used for?

Answer 33

Mostly for murder, but can also be used for treason, adultery and selling illegal drugs.

Question 34

What is one of the most famous cases about the use of capital punishment?

Answer 34

That of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in 1924 in the USA.

Question 35

What did Leopold and Loeb do?

Answer 35

Planned and brutally killed 14-year-old Bobby Franks.

Question 36

What did Clarence Darrow, the boy's defence lawyer, argue?

Answer 36

That capital punishment was not appropriate as they were mentally disturbed and not totally responsible for their actions.

Question 37

What happened to Leopold and Loeb?

Answer 37

They were sentenced to imprisonment and not capital punishment.

Question 38

Who does capital punishment help and when?

Answer 38

When extremely bad crimes have been committed, capital punishment helps the family of the victims feel justice has been done.

Question 39

What does the Old Testament state in regards to capital punishment?

Answer 39

'Whoever sheds blood, by humans shall their blood be shed.'

Question 40

Who does capital punishment deter?

Answer 40

Others from committing bad crimes and sends out a message that such as acts will not be tolerated by society.

Question 41

What does capital punishment protect?

Answer 41

Society from dangerous criminals.

Question 42

What does the offender show by accepting capital punishment?

Answer 42

That they are sorry for the crime they have committed.

Question 43

Why do people argue that the 'eye for an eye' aim of punishment wrong?

Answer 43

Because punishing a murderer by killing them is morally contradictory.

Question 44

What does the social background and mental state of the offender often indicates?

Answer 44

That they are not totally in control of their actions - this is called diminished responsibility.

Question 45

What does capital punishment make impossible?

Answer 45

It is irreversible and makes reform and rehabilitation impossible.

Question 46

What is the evidence that capital punishment deters people from committing horrendous crimes?

Answer 46

There is no conclusive evidence.

Question 47

How is prison in comparison to capital punishment?

Answer 47

It is as much a form of protection as capital punishment and far less brutal.

Question 48

Does the state, being far from perfect, have the right to take away a life?

Answer 48

No