Aims of Punishment

Aims of Punishment

Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will understand the main aims of punishment:

  • Deterrence
  • Protecting citizens from harm, injury, and loss of property
  • Retribution
  • Incapacitation of the offender
  • Rehabilitation of the offender

The acronym for remembering these objectives is DPRIR.

Deterrence

  • People who commit crimes are punished so that it will serve as a form of deterrence.
  • Deterrence (key term) means when a punishment is intended to discourage the offender or others from committing the offense again due to the punishment.
    • Example: A boy who has been suspended from school for fighting will not ordinarily fight again to avoid being suspended from school again.
  • When people who commit crimes are punished, it may prevent them from committing similar offenses in the future, but if they are not punished, it will encourage them to continue in their deviant ways.

Questions:

  1. Do all forms of punishment serve as a deterrent?
  2. Give an example of a punishment that you think is a deterrent?

Protecting Citizens

  • Punishing criminals helps to protect the citizens in a country.
  • This is because it will prevent people from harming them.
  • It creates a sense of security among citizens because they know the judicial system (key term) will help protect their interest when they become a victim of crime.
  • The judicial system refers to the courts in a country that apply the laws and interpret it.
  • In Ghana, it includes the circuit court, district court, high court, and supreme court.

Retribution

  • Punishment serves the purpose of retribution.
  • Retribution is the idea that a person who commits a crime must face the same degree of inconvenience and harm that the victim experiences.
  • Retribution may make the victim and her family satisfied, but it does not actually change the person who was killed or harmed.
  • An example of a punishment that serves the purpose of retribution is imprisonment.

Incapacitation

  • Punishment may seek to incapacitate the criminal.
  • This is an act taken to physically prevent the offender from committing more crimes in the future.
  • Examples: putting a person in prison, imposing the death penalty on a person, or a heavy fine may be done to incapacitate the offender and ensure he is unable to reoffend in the future.

Rehabilitation

  • This is when the punishment involves changing the attitudes and behavior of the offender through job training or education to provide the offender with an opportunity to make a living in a legitimate way and not go into crime.
  • One important aspect of rehabilitation is restorative justice, where the offender will be made to pay back what he stole or offering an apology to his victim.