punishment

punishment, the infliction of some kind of pain or loss upon a person for a misdeed (i.e., the transgression of a law or command). Punishment may take forms ranging from capital punishment, flogging, forced labour, and mutilation of the body to imprisonment and fines. Deferred punishments consist of penalties that are imposed only if an offense is repeated within a specified time.

In some premodern societies, punishment was largely vindictive or retributive, and its prosecution was left to the individuals wronged (or to their families). In quantity and quality such punishment bore no special relation to the character or gravity of the offense. Gradually there arose the idea of proportionate punishment, such as was reflected in the biblical dictum “an eye for an eye” (see talion). Eventually punishment by individuals came under the control of the community; later, with the development of codes of law, the state took over the punitive function for the maintenance of public order. Under such a system, the state is viewed as the entity wronged by the crime, and the exaction of punishment by individuals acting on their own behalf (as in cases of lynching) is illegal.

This article deals with theories and objectives of punishment and examines general systems of punishment in various countries and regions. For discussion of specific forms of punishment, see capital punishment, flogging, exile and banishment, and drawing and quartering. For a presentation of the current legal status of capital punishment in the United States, see capital punishment in the United States. For additional general discussion, see torture.

Theories and objectives of punishment

Punishment has been a subject of debate among philosophers, political leaders, and lawyers for centuries. Various theories of punishment have been developed, each of which attempts to justify the practice in some form and to state its proper objectives.

Modern punishment theories date from the 18th century, when the humanitarian movement in Europe emphasized the dignity of the individual, as well as his rationality and responsibility. The quantity and severity of punishments were reduced, the prison system was improved, and the first attempts were made to study the psychology of crime and to distinguish between classes of criminals. During most of the 19th and 20th centuries, individuals who broke the law were viewed as the product of social conditions, and accordingly punishment was considered justified only insofar as (1) it protected society by acting as a deterrent or by temporarily or permanently removing one who has injured it or (2) it aimed at the moral or social regeneration of the criminal. By the latter half of the 20th century, however, many people in Western countries objected to this view of punishment, believing that it placed too little responsibility on offenders for their actions, undervalued the additional deterrent effect derivable from severe, as compared with moderate, punishment, and ignored society’s ostensible right to retribution.

Retribution

The retributive theory of punishment holds that punishment is justified by the moral requirement that the guilty make amends for the harm they have caused to society. Retributive theories generally maintain, as did the Italian criminologist Cesare Beccaria (1738–94), that the severity of a punishment should be proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Some retributive theories hold that punishment should never be imposed to achieve a social objective (such as law-abiding behaviour in the future by the offender or by others who witness his example), while others allow social objectives to be pursued as secondary goals. Many (but not all) retributive theories also claim that punishment should not be inflicted on a person unless he is found guilty of a specific offense (thus, they would prohibit collective punishment and the taking of hostages from the general population).

Although retributive theorists do not base their justification of punishment on its possible deterrent or reformative effects, many of them agree that punishment can perform a salutary educational function. The enactment and implementation of the criminal law—including particularly the imposition of sentences—provides a concrete example of society’s values and thereby reinforces them. Citizens whose moral values are reinforced by court judgments may feel more strongly committed to them than previously; by contrast, they may question or feel less constrained by values that the courts visibly ignore. Without this kind of reinforcement, some retributivists argue, the legitimacy of the legal system itself may be undermined, leading eventually to general moral decline and the dissolution of society.

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Retributivists also contend that punishment of offenders by the state satisfies the community’s natural demand for justice and helps to prevent victims of crime and those close to them from seeking revenge through direct violence. A variation of this idea is that punishment is a kind of expiation: offenders should undergo punishment in their own interests to discharge their guilt and to make themselves acceptable to society again.