Essay On Utilitarian Theory Of Punishment

The utilitarian theory of punishment fully supports disregarding the origins in sentencing the rioters. The theory specifically focuses on the future with respect to how punishing benefits society. Punishment is justified if society benefits more than the harm caused by punishing the criminal. There are four goals in utilitarian theory. These are specific deterrence, general deterrence, reform and incapacitation. The Bradford Riots produced great social harm. For the sake of the community, it is crucial that a riot of the magnitude that occurred does not happen again. In its fragile state, it is hard to imagine how much worse it can get if more businesses are destroyed and the economy further worsens. The unemployment rate is already staggering, (Look up what paper cited it to be). General deterrence is necessary to prevent this. To accomplish this goal, punishment to the rioters should be constructed harshly enough to deter the general public from rioting. Specific punishments? Others may argue that general deterrence ultimately will not deter the people of Bradford from rioting again because the social conditions that led to the previous riot have not been resolved. Therefore, it is foreseeable that overtime the oppressed will be pushed to their breaking points and riot violently again. It could even be argued …show more content…
Peaceful protests have an important role in society in exacting positive change, and these weren’t what Judge Gullick criticized. He criticized extreme violence that transpired during the riots. Sentencing is a method used to deter some crimes more than others. The court would punish the worst offenders so harshly that a significant portion of the general public would be deterred to enact the violent acts that the punished committed. Peaceful protestors will either not be punished or they will be punished