Capital Punishment in America - Research Paper Example

Effective Punishment The Judicial System has four classifications of crime; societal protection, rehabilitation, deterrence, and retribution (Macionis, 2011). Societal protection depicts an incarceration of a law offender for a prolonged period. This indicates that societal protection focuses on protecting the whole society from an individual who is deemed a criminal. Rehabilitation depicts the process of restoring an individual to normal ways. As such, rehabilitation assumes that, in cases where an individual is regarded as a member of society who is engaged in criminal acts, such an individual may be trained to become a member who is a better and beneficial person in society. This is because rehabilitation process involves restoring such an individual to his or her initial and acceptable behavior in society, as well as providing moral education to such individuals. Deterrence is regarded as a means of discouraging individuals from engagement in criminal activities. This involves illustrating to offenders that harsh consequences would result for their criminal actions. Such consequences include one being imprisoned. As such, deterrence illustrates that punishment should be provided as a consequence of crime. Since human beings are rational, contemplation of the severity and consequences of punishment would deter people from temptations of engaging in criminal activities. This validates the use of deterrence as the means of punishment for criminal activities in society. On the other hand, retribution indicates an action of repairing or repaying something as price of criminal activities of an individual. Such a punishment makes an individual develop individual responsibility towards social structures and “keep off” criminal activities. As such, the most effective means of deterring crime is retribution. This is because an individual is subject to payment of the criminal acts. This acts as an effective means of making an individual not to engage in criminal activities. This type of punishment is more significant in cases where the individual commits a crime for the first time than in cases of subsequent crimes. The American society believes in punishment as a consequence of criminal activities. This depicts that people are aware of what kind of punishment they may receive in case they engage in criminal activities. Moreover, retribution provides a means of punishment, which depends on the degree of the crime committed by an individual. Therefore, the punishment administered to the criminal is equivalent to the crime committed and the criminal does not receive excessive or less punishment in comparison to the magnitude of the crime committed. However, in situations where an individual is engaged in multiple crimes and retribution does not prove effective. Such an individual should be subjected to rehabilitation form of punishment. This is because this form of punishment allows effective cross-examination of the psychological needs and reactions of an individual, which could be the factors, which makes such an individual to engage in criminal activities. After such a cross-examination, an individual is guided under a controlled environment, which allows consistent monitoring of behavior of an individual. This leads to a change in the conduct of an individual in society. Furthermore, rehabilitation provides an opportunity of offering moral education to an individual who is engaged in criminal activities. This may also include provision of vocation training, which equips an individual with skills, which would keep such an individual from engagement in criminal activities, in society. Deterrence is not an effective means of punishment since it leads to the development of fear among individuals, which impacts the decision-making process of individuals in society (Lund, 2002). As such, using deterrence as a form of punishment would create an American society, which is composed of an element of fear. On the same note, fear would erode the moral nature of a free society if used as the means of punishing criminals. On the other hand, societal protection as a form of punishment would result in the loss of competent and vital individuals in society to the imprisonment chambers. This is because such individuals would have been punished through retribution or rehabilitation, changes their behavior in society, and become eminent members in society. Moreover, societal protection is more of a life sentence than a punishment since the individual is subjected to longer jail terms, which would make such individuals never, return to society. This breaks family ties and grieves the family members of the individual involved in criminal activities. However, judging on the most effective punishment for deterring crime is a critical issue, which is dependent on the nature of crime committed, as well as the historical involvement of an individual in criminal activities. This illustrates that the four methods of determent are effective depending on the nature of crime. However, ranking them in a hierarchy (the most effective means being the first) they would appear as shown in figure 1. This indicates that the preferred most effective punishment of deterring crime is retribution. Consequences of Punishment The society benefits from the consequence of punishment. This is because punishments aid in reducing the rate of crime in society. In addition, some forms of punishment aid in restoring an individual to a vital asset in society. Such forms of punishment include rehabilitation punishment, which aid in restoring the initial nature of an individual prior to criminal acts. The restored individuals contribute significantly towards social developments. Moreover, social members feel that there is safety in their immediate surrounding as a result of punishment of an individual for criminal acts. This brings happiness in a society since individuals believe that they have sufficient protection from criminal activities of a past offender. According to Savelsberg (1998), criminal justice is an effective means restoring society values by dealing with violence in United States society. On the side of criminals, punishments provide considerable benefits to an individual. This occurs since the behavior of an individual is restored to normal and individuals are taught how to respect and adhere to the law the “hard way”. This makes individuals to change their behavior and uphold moral ethics in society, which enhances peaceful coexistence with other members of society. Moreover, individuals are able to conduct effective analysis of the cost versus the reward of punishment as a result of committing a crime. Furthermore, individuals who are punished are able to receive moral education through the punishment that is administered. This contributes significantly towards changing the behavioral attitude of an individual towards criminal acts in society. References Lund, N. (2002). “Capital punishment in America”. Public Interest, (149), 122-126. Retrieved: http://search.proquest.com/docview/222064655?accountid=45049. Macionis, J. (2011). Society: The Basics (11th Ed). ISBN: 1256369578. Prentice Hall. Savelsberg, J. J. (1998). “Controlling violence: Criminal Justice, Society, and Lessons from the US”. Crime, Law and Social Change, 30(2), 185-203. doi: 10.1023/A: 1008389332720 Read More