Arguments Against Corporal Punishment

Implementation of punishment is one of the key issues that has been problematic throughout history. Recently, prison sentences is the most favorable type of punishment given to criminals worldwide. How much prison time depends on the severity of the crime that is committed. However, there has been new alternative punishments introduced by scholars that claim are more effective and fairer than imprisonment. Graeme Newman argues that corporal punishment should be given through electric shocks. I reject this argument and claim that punishment through electric shock does not deter other people from committing the same crime and the duration and intensity of voltage is not and should not be equal for men, women and children. Newman argues that …show more content…
For instances, if the woman who was caught shoplifting suffered through the electric shocks, she would have committed the same crime in extreme circumstances. If the woman thinks that in order to feed her daughter, she would have to steal again, and if caught the consequences will be electric shocks that will cause pain for 15 minutes, she would do it. The woman will not hesitate to bear the pain for a short amount of time in order to feed her daughter. However, separating the mother from the daughter for six months would deter her to commit the crime because she will not resist in being away from her daughter for that long again. Even if people are not in extraordinary situations, they will not hesitate in committing a crime if its for a short period of time. Some people enjoy the feeling of physical pain rather phycological reform. An objection to this argument is that the intensity of the voltage could be increased whenever that criminal commits a crime and could be extended in to a period of days. However, this punishment will then become too cruel and too usual which will violate the eight amendment. There should be a limit on how much pain a person should suffer physically in a given period of