While drawing up a penal programme for the prevention of crime and the treatment of offenders, it must be borne in mind that human nature is complex and it is not possible to comprehend it fully. This is the reason why all human being do not respond in the same manner in a given situation.
This basic realisation has led to the innovation of a number of treatment methods for offenders. The prisons are no longer regarded as custodial institutions instead; they have acquired a new dimension as treatment and training centres for those who violate law. The emphasis has now shifted from custody to training as re-education of offenders and from mere isolation to rehabilitation in the community.
It has been realised that protection of society can be better ensured if the offender is corrected and reformed through individualised treatment. Experience has shown that mere treatment in institutions does not help in the ultimate rehabilitation of the offenders because of the stigma society attaches to the released inmates. An adequate after-care service programme is therefore, most vital for the correctional therapy of release of prisoners.
An ideal penal policy should resort to reformation in case of juveniles or first offenders and deterrence for recidivists and hardened criminals. It is for this reason that modern penologists lay greater emphasis on institutional methods of treating the offender rather than the traditional methods of punishment which have now become obsolete and out-dated. The penal system should be so devised as to cause minimum of suffering to offenders and at the same time develop social morals and social discipline among citizens.
In short, it should neither be intolerably severe nor unrealistically lenient. It must be stated that penal policy reflects the societal reaction to crime and therefore, the motive for punishment should largely depend on the social structure and accepted norms and values of a given society. Truly speaking, the need of the day is for a rehabilitation programme for all inmates with a substantial diminution in the use of imprisonment and incarceration.
Of late, there has been a sweeping transformation in the penal programmes of progressive countries but there is still a greater need for some deeper insight into some of the manifestations of crimes and criminals such as the scientific classification of offenders, working of penal institutions and effectiveness of punishment and other methods of treatment.
Particularly, in the sphere of penology the influences of criminology and the law must be strengthened for effective realisation of the ends of penal justice and humane treatment of offenders. This is possible by reaffirming faith in fundamental human rights and realising the dignity and worth of human beings.
An effective criminal justice system inevitably needs to ensure that the society is protected against the criminals by stamping out criminal proclivity inherent in them. This can be achieved by adopting a penal policy which imposes appropriate punishment. Emphasising on this aspect of penal justice, the Supreme Court in Ankush Maruti Shinde v. State of Maharashtra, reiterated that, “in perpetuating the sentencing system, law should adopt the corrective machinery or the deterrence based on factual matrix. Imposing of sentence without considering its effect on social order may be in reality a futile exercise…….. It is therefore, the duty of every court to avoid proper sentence having regard to the nature of the offence and the manner in which it was perpetuated or committed.”
It is hopefully expected that under this dispensation the implementation of criminal justice system will work effectively in order to attain the desired objectives of progressive penology.
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