Punishment Alisha White Sociology 120 July 26, 2013

Abstract Crime has been around since the beginning of time and for centuries societies have tried to establish and maintain laws to protect their citizens. In the United States there are four types of punishment that is justified; retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and societal protection. This paper will explain further what these punishments are and their effectiveness. This paper will also include which punishment deters crime most effectively, and are the consequences showing any benefit for society or for the criminals themselves.

Punishment

The first type of punishment justified in the United States is retribution. Retribution an act of moral vengeance by which society makes the offender suffer as much as the suffering caused by the crime (Macionis, 2011) Most of society would better understand what retribution means by the old saying an eye for an eye. Retribution is the part of justice that ultimately stands by the people who follow and abide by the law and punishes those who break the law. Many believe that this form of punishment does not help in the aid of reforming the offender or reducing crimes the offender commits (Macionis, 2011). There are those that do believe that retribution does help rehabilitate the offender back to fit in with society. The death penalty can seem to be a rational punishment for someone who commits murder, a life for a life. Deterrence is the second justification of punishment. Deterrence is defined as the attempt to discourage criminality through the use of punishment (Macionis, 2011, p. 182). It has been believed that if people that were capable of rational thoughts, they would not commit a crime if they knew the consequences of these crimes. Deterrence is an approach to guide those away from committing a crime, if a person knows that if they commit murder then they will be put to death, therefore trying to defer them the other way and not commit the crime. The third justification for punishment is rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is a program for reforming the offender to prevent later offense (Macionis, 2011, p.182). Rehabilitation is used to try and reform offenders; it helps them want to become a part of society again. There are many types of rehabilitation services for different types of criminals such as drug and alcohol rehab. Rehabilitation is a more permanent way to deter crime even though deterrence is a primary goal. When an individual is sentenced to probation, it gives them the opportunity to remain self-

supporting within the community and not using the taxpayer and states money to house them in a correctional facility. Depending on the severity of non-severity of a crime rehabilitation may help a criminal more than it would to put them into a jail or prison. The only problem is that program classification criteria relate primarily to offenders personal histories and characteristics and not to their current crimes (Tonry, 2007, Para. 40). If a persons criminal offenses are drug or alcohol related and no violent crimes are committed, then rehabilitation would benefit them more than sitting in a jail sail getting no form of help. If a persons crimes start off as non-violent and then a violent crime has been committed even after being in rehab, then I find that jail would be the next step for this person. The fourth and final justification for punishment is societal protection. Societal protection is defined as rendering an offender incapable of further offenses temporarily through imprisonment or permanently by execution (Macionis, 2011, p. 183). This form of punishment has been formed to help protect society against violent or repeat offenders. Societal protection is one of the reasons that there are so many people in the prison system. When it comes to societal protection punishment there is no hope in trying to rehabilitate him, the offender will sit in a cell for the term of his sentence or in an execution chamber. When it comes to the four justifications of punishment, they all seem to have one thing in common and that is fitting the punishment with the crime. They all coexist with each other in some way or another. What punishment should go with what crime and who is to decide this? If society had its choice to determine which crime should go with which punishment, then crime would never go away. Granted punishment is still an ongoing issue, there are over 2.2 million people currently imprisoned in the United States (census, 2013). There is something that is not going right, or maybe there is, I guess it all depends on who is looking at the situation.

When it comes to which form of punishment deter more crime than any other, there really is no straight forward answer. Each form of punishment has its own pros and cons. There are those criminals that have a criminalistics background and by being incarcerated they are more likely to offend again due to their background. Rehabilitation can seem too easy of a punishment for some offenders, and societal protection does not benefit anyone but society because the offender is removed as a part of society. There is no punishment that has yet to stop crime, though some forms of punishment may work better than others, there is still no resolution to the end of crime. If some members of society believe that rehabilitation and deterrence are unreasonable when imposing a penalty, the only other form of punishment is retribution (Paolo, 2001), When it comes to crimes and punishment all society knows is that a person should be punished for the crime that they commit. Some believe that criminals should be punished harsher than others and others believe that in the case of murder, just because one takes a life; it is not our place to take his life. I do not believe that anyone can ever stop crime from happening; it has been around for centuries and will continue to be around. The only thing that protects us is the law and justification for those that chose to commit crimes. There are those criminals that may never change regardless of what punishment they serve. Some people cannot be rehabilitated in any form; these people should not be with society.

References:

Macionis, J. J. (2011). Society: The basics (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Paolo, Stella (2001). The Purpose and Effects of Punishment. European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Vol. 9 Issue 1, p56-68, 13p, Retrieved July 24, 2013 from EbscoHost database. Tonry, M(2007). Looking Back to See the Future of Punishment in America. Social Research, 74(2), 353. Retrieved July 25, 2013.