What's the purpose of "punishment"?

[her209]

1. Is it to make an example out of someone such that no one else will commit the same crime?

-OR-

2. Is it to reform the criminal so they will not commit the same crime?


What happens when the punishment does not perform its purpose, i.e. someone else commits the same crime or the same person commits the same crime again?

 

[glen]

3. To restore the moral balance of the Universe - See Kant

 

[Kalvin00]

{C} Both of the above

 

[PowderBB3D]

Not a bad question. Perry404 could learn a thing or two.

I'd personally say that most of the time it is for deterrance of crime. The death penalty is obviously not meant to reform but to deter others from committing crimes potentially punishable by death (although the success rate of such a practice is largely debatable). The less severe the crime the more the punishment errs on the side of reformation; the more severe the crime the more it errs on the side of making an example out of the criminal.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
{C} Both of the above

 

[PlatinumGold]

Reformation

Prevention

Deterence

in my opinion, none of the three work.

mostly it's just about

Revenge.

 

[FoBoT]

depends

sometimes you gotta mix a little "revenge for the victims" in as well

 

[jjones]

It's to enhance sexual pleasure.

 

[PowderBB3D]

True, revenge plays a role, but the fear of revenge or retribution prevents people from breaking the law. If there was no punishment crime would increase, so obviously revenge serves a purpose - so much so that classification of the act as simply revenge seems to be inaccurate.

 

[rh71]

Are you gathering thoughts for a paper or were you simply wondering ?

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: rh71
Are you gathering thoughts for a paper or were you simply wondering ?

Just pondering

 

[thomsbrain]

both

 

[Legendary]

Originally posted by: glen
3. To restore the moral balance of the Universe - See Kant

Booo - down with Kant!

 

[HappyCracker]

negative reinforcement. it lets people know that what they did is wrong. if everyone got away with what they did, laws would be worthless. unfortunately you can't say "BAD HUMAN!" and shake your finger at the wrongdoer.

 

[Lazy8s]

well my g/f and I added punishment because we thought it could be fun to roleplay and see what happened, we also kinda liked the idea of being tied up....oh...wait, sorry different kind of punishment....

 

[dullard]

I think punishment is generally done for:
1) Revenge is the biggest reason by far,
2) Deterrent is an important reason.
999) Reform of the criminal. This is so far down the list it is barely worth mentioning.

Of course if you ask people this question often they'll say reform and claim to be morally superior that they don't need revenge. But in practice, people want revenge.

 

[Kadarin]

The purpose of "punishment" is to punish, to inconvenience or hurt the offender in some way as a direct result of the action he or she committed. It is moral reinforcement that actions have consequences.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: PowderBB3D
Not a bad question. Perry404 could learn a thing or two.

I'd personally say that most of the time it is for deterrance of crime. The death penalty is obviously not meant to reform but to deter others from committing crimes potentially punishable by death (although the success rate of such a practice is largely debatable). The less severe the crime the more the punishment errs on the side of reformation; the more severe the crime the more it errs on the side of making an example out of the criminal.

I think the deathy penalty is more than just a deterrent - some punishments are a means to protect others. Buy killing a killer, we have taken them out of the equation.

I think the lady that had to wear a sign because she stole gas, is the way to go. Embarassment is the perfect deterrent. Not only does it cover both points 1 & 2, but it is also cheaper for the rest of us since we don't have to financially support the person's incarceration. If instead she had just spent a few days in jail and had to pay a fine, it would not have deterred other people, and since she felt the need to steal the gas the fine would just have reinforced her to need to steal.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
I think the lady that had to wear a sign because she stole gas, is the way to go.

The problem is how you inforce punishments like that. Suppose we let 1 million prisoners out and basically said to punish themselves with signs. How do we know if they really did do that? We'd need a million officers following them around - costing far more than our current system.

I do agree that jail isn't as much of a deterrent as it could be. With criminals out of the way, potential criminals don't see them and thus don't think of them enough.