Theories of Punishment

Some of the major questions which are engaging the attention of modem penologists are whether the traditional forms of punishment should remain the exclusive or primary weapons in restraining criminal behaviour or should be supplemented and even replaced by a much more flexible or diversified combination of measures of treatment of a reformative, curative and protective nature.

And if so, to which categories of offenders should these improvised measures be applicable and how should their choice in particular cases be determined? And finally, how could the reintegration of offenders into society be placed so as to efface the penal stigma and to cut off the supply of potential recidivists at its source?

Punishing the offenders is a primary function of all civil States. The incidence of crime and its retribution has always been an unending fascination for human mind. However, during the last two hundred years, the practice of punishment and public opinion concerning it have been profoundly modified due to the rapidly changing social values and sentiments of the people.

The crucial problem today is whether a criminal is to be regarded by society as a nuisance to be abated or an enemy to be crushed or a patient to be treated or a refractory child to be disciplined? Or should he be regarded as none of these things but simply be punished to show to others that anti-social conduct does not finally pay.

It is in this perspective that the problem of crime, criminal and punishment is engaging the attention of criminologist and penologists all around the world. A ‘crime’ has been defined by Salmond as an act deemed by law to be harmful for society as a whole although its immediate victim may be an individual.

Thus “a murderer injures primarily a particular victim, but its blatant disregard of human life puts it beyond a matter of mere compensation between the murderer and the victim’s family.” Those who commit such acts, if convicted, are punished by the State. It is therefore, evident that the object of criminal justice is to protect the society against criminals by punishing them under the existing penal law.

Thus punishment can be used as a method of reducing the incidence of criminal behaviour either by deterring the potential offenders or by incapacitating and preventing them from repeating the offence or by reforming them into law-abiding citizens. It is this principle which underlies the doctrines concerning the desirability and objectives of punishment.

Theories of punishment, therefore, contain generally policies regarding handling of crime and criminals. There are four generally accepted theories of punishment, namely, deterrent, retributive, preventive and reformative. It must, however, be noted that these theories are not mutually exclusive and each of them plays an important role in dealing with potential offenders.