Retribution Theory Of Punishment Essay

Improved Essays
Punishment is a penalty that is imposed to someone who has committed a crime. A crime is a serious offence act that one commits, such as murder or robbery. Punishment has been around since the old ages. Most times if someone does something wrong the ending result is to be punished. Say for instance a person’s mother tells them to clean their room and does not do as they were told they will be punished. Same thing, if someone kills another person they shall be subject to be punished for their actions. Punishment and crime can go back for centuries but as time goes on punishment for a committing a crime has changed.
We use punishment because of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism.is the ideal of the greatest happiness shared by the greatest number of people. Deterrence is a rational choice; its theory states that crime can be controlled through the use of punishments that combine the proper degrees of certainty, severity, and celerity. Deterrence believes that people choose to obey or violate the law after realizing consequences of their actions. Retribution theorists argue that punishment is justified because it is deserved. In retribution theory, the punishment imposed should be compare to the wrongful actions of the criminal. Retribution is justified in ways such as the notion that offenders are paying their debt to society.
There are two different
…show more content…
Those who break the law or don 't obey certain rules always get punished. The Middles Ages crimes did not give people a reasonable punishment. The definition on punishment is different the definition of punishment in the middle ages. The middle age definition of punishment is to impose or inflict something unpleasant or aversive on a person in response to disobedient or morally wrong behavior. Punishment means to impose a penalty for a wrong committed (Medieval Torture and

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In this essay I will discuss two approaches to punishment which are retributivism, also known as non-consequentialism, and utilitarianism, also known as consequentialism. I will then analyse three justifications of punishment within the utilitarian approach which are reform and rehabilitation, individual and general deterrence and incapacitation. Retributivism is a sociological perspective of crime which looks at the different forms and changes in punishment. It is a backward thinking approach as it does not look at future consequences of punishment and is mostly concerned with offences already committed and getting ‘justice’. This approach is considered similar to ‘an eye for an eye’ as it is based on the idea that if we inflict harm on another…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When people hear the word punishment, it is an instant reaction to think that something wrong has occurred. Punishment has always been a way that societies and governments found to discourage and alarm the population from committing unlawful actions. By law, capital punishment is the legal killing of a person for committing a crime. Consequently, capital punishment was created to reduce a number of committed murders. Every year, several people are sentenced to life.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Crime is an action that is undertaken that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by state and punishable by law. Punishment is when a crime is committed the consequence that the person should suffer. If a person was to commit a crime there should always be some type of punishment. Depending on the type of crime committed should determine the penalty that should be enforced. At any given time there shouldn’t be any sympathy showed to the committer because it was all premediated before it actually occurred.…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I believe that by making some changes to the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines would in the long run make our justice system better able to serve the people. I know many of you, like I believe there should be no change to the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, but have you or I for that matter really thought through what that means for people like Lee Wollard or Trina Garnett? Lee Wollard didn’t hurt the young man, he protected his daughter and family, yet is spending twenty years behind bars because he fired a warning shot into his home. Trina Garnett was an abused teenager with a mental illness that needed medical care not sent to prison.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the start of the understanding, punishment is explained as "the infliction of harm, consequences or the denial of certain privileges such as freedom, by an authorized person or persons on an individual belief to be guilty of breaking and going against the law or more generally of having done the wrong thing. (Edmunds, 1991) This said, it can be understood that, capital punishment is an extension based in the notion of punishment; it exacts a higher penalty and consequence on a greater wrong that has been done or could equally be seen as the highest penalty exacted on the biggest wrongs faced and done in a society. The highest form of penalty/punishment will be the penalty of death for the doing of a specific crime as compared to the denial of one’s freedom or any access to material possessions he/she…

    • 1008 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The medieval era brought a time of unruly judgment and confused leadership, which consequently led to unfair and morally wrong punishments of those who committed crimes and wrong doings. With a loose power over the people and no laws protecting them from punishment, the people were afraid and reasonably so. The preferred discipline consisted of the use of various types of torture devices. Often times, castles were equipped with torture chambers used to inflict unrighteous judgment upon the victim.…

    • 1759 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout the semester, we have repeatedly discussed statistics regarding current crime and incarceration rates. In comparison to previous rates, from earlier decades, it is clear that society’s viewpoint on crime has changed significantly. Beginning in the early 1970s, the United States initiated a more punitive criminal justice system (1). In The Punishment Imperative, authors Todd R. Clear and Natasha A. Frost created a concept for the reasoning behind this mass incarceration. Referred to as the “Punishment Imperative,” its basis for reasoning focused on the symbolic image that crime held in society; meaning, as crime rates grew, the societal fear for basic safety began to emerge.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Importance Of Revenge And Justice

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    Those who seek revenge seek a “savage justice (Document D).” When people go out and try to get revenge for the wrong first inflicted on him or her, they overreact and often inflict more sin and hurt on the person than the person originally did. Document D continues to say that this will occur, and that people who are wise will ignore the past, and “know they have enough to do in the present.” Francis Bacon’s ideas are valid points, as looking back on the past prevents the future. The Bible builds on this idea by saying that every single person should “Love [their] enemies, do good to those who hate [them], bless those who curse [them], pray for those who mistreat [them] (Document A),” and by doing so, they are setting an example and perhaps even changing their “enemies” ways.…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deterrence is a way of using punishment to threaten, discourage, or divert people from committing further crimes. There are two key categories of deterrence: general deterrence and specific deterrence. General deterrence targets potential offenders, aiming to discourage individuals from committing similar offences as past offenders. General deterrence can also be thought of as a threat to the whole public, it would occur when an individual sees the consequences of another; therefore, does not engage in the same behavior. Specific deterrence, on the other hand, is a punishment to the individual person because of a crime they committed.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Are Shame Punishments Necessary? The problem in our society we are having now are judges wanting to find cheaper alternatives to incarcerations because it costs so much money. In June Tangney’s essay, she doesn’t agree with shame punishments. In her essay, she states points about how if people who have done nonviolent crimes receive shame punishments, they will be too embarrassed.…

    • 1518 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    General deterrence is presumes that others in society will not commit crimes; because they will be caught and punished also general deterrence is the recognition that criminal acts results in punishment, and the effect of that recognition on society that prevents future crimes. 5. Describe restorative justice. The restorative justice models sentencing that shifts the focus away from punishment of the offender and emphasize the victim by holding offenders accountable for the harm they caused and finding opportunities for them to repair the damage.…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The death penalty has been around as far back as the eighteenth century B.C. During colonial days, the death penalty was there in order to keep the religious command. There were a number of offenses a person could commit and receive the death penalty: Murder, Man stealing, bestiality, poisoning, witchcraft, etc. Each crime took its roots in religious sermons and biblical laws. Race played a large part of a sentencing for capital punishment before, during and after the Civil war.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deterrence theory is a theory looking at ways to prevent crimes. Deterrence theory argues that crime can be deterred or prevented based off of…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Correctional Ideology

    • 1878 Words
    • 8 Pages

    “The correctional ideology refers to a body of ideas and practices that pertain to the processing of offenders, as determined by law.” There are three main correctional ideologies: punishment, rehabilitation, and prevention. Throughout history, these have been the methods used to deal with offenders. The make-up of these ideologies connects to the public’s opinion of the criminals. Whether society has chosen an “eye for an eye,” a more humane standard, or a hope to prevent crime, these ideologies have no doubt changed throughout time to accommodate the public’s needs.…

    • 1878 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Summary Criminology studies the reasoning and factors as to why individuals engage in criminal activities. In classical criminology, social philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham developed a theory of crime that criminologist and theorist still use today (Akers 2017). In classical criminology, an individual commits a crime by making a rational decision. That decision is based off of whether the benefits that one might receive by offending outweighs the consequences such as being caught and cited or sentenced. Individuals base their decision to offend or not offend on what they have seen others suffer, their knowledge of what consequences they may endure and their own personal experiences.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays