Criminal law has been shaped by various ideas about its purposes (Duff, 2002a in Crime and Justice). One purpose served by the criminal law is to ensure that those who act wrongly receive the pain which is their just desert (Johnston and Ward 2010, 8). This simply put means that the community expectations of the criminal justice system is to see a wrongdoer reprimanded for his or her crime. The Elizabethan era is a prime example of this, as punishment for crime was often a public spectacle and in the form of hanging or flogging. The criminal justice system was also thought to shape human conduct. This purpose focuses more on the individual itself and their sense of wrongfulness of certain types of behaviour (Braithwaite, 1989).
This paper will describe these two purposes and analyse the issues of administration and how it manifests itself in the justice system. It will also assess the relevance to the modern-day criminal justice system.
Analyses of purpose one
It is suggested that the criminal justice system serves as a purpose to “ensure that those who act wrongly receive the pain which is their just desert” (Johnston and Ward 2010, 8). The main …show more content…
Ensuring acts receive the punishment which is in their just desert, takes a retributive approach. Through this purpose, criminal law seeks to accomplish crime control and deliverance of justice (Johnstone & Ward 2010, 18-20). Shaping human conduct is an important purpose of the criminal justice system. Without the means rehabilitation, the criminal justice system would stand to serve no meaning. This purpose takes the approach of restorative justification where its’ sole purpose is to reform offenders to co-exist in a community with other law abiding citizens. These two purposes serve a theoretical and practical function within the criminal justice system which benefits the community and the