What are the aims of punishment?
Often the aims of a punishment overlap, eg sending people to prison aims to deterTo put someone off doing something. people from committing similar crimes and it aims to protect the public from the individual who is guilty of the crime. Here are four recognised aims of punishment:
- deterrence - punishment that aims to put people off committing crime
- reformation - punishment that aims to reformTo make changes to something or someone, for improvement. the criminal
- retribution - punishment that aims to make the criminal pay for what they have done wrong
- justice - the aim is to ensure that the right and fair thing is done
Question
Explain the aim of deterrence punishment.
Deterrence punishment tries to deter people. This means trying to put them off committing a crime.
Type and aims of punishment
How are types and aims of punishment associated with each other?
Different methods are used to punish criminals for their offences. Each punishment is associated with different aims.
| Punishment | Aim |
| Prison | deterrence/reformation |
| Electronic tagging | deterrence |
| Fines | retribution |
| Community service | reformation/retribution |
| Capital punishment | deterrence |
| Probation | reformation |
| Punishment | Prison |
|---|---|
| Aim | deterrence/reformation |
| Punishment | Electronic tagging |
|---|---|
| Aim | deterrence |
| Punishment | Fines |
|---|---|
| Aim | retribution |
| Punishment | Community service |
|---|---|
| Aim | reformation/retribution |
| Punishment | Capital punishment |
|---|---|
| Aim | deterrence |
| Punishment | Probation |
|---|---|
| Aim | reformation |