Punishment - Research Paper Example

This form of punishment denies an individual the most basic freedoms like movement and association. Criminal recidivism is a case where a person who has been convicted of a certain crime repeats the offense. This paper’s objective is to research the effects of four types of punishment in today’s American society. Retribution as a form of punishment to an offender that is characterized by inflicting as much harm as the victim suffered in the hands of the perpetrator in an effort to expiate them of guilt (Hudson, 2003).

In most cases, retribution is a natural impulse that exists even in animals, which makes them prone to revenge on the party that wronged them. Retribution is punishment that the criminal justice system tries to repudiate by putting measures in place to prevent revenge attacks on offenders. It seeks to hand over the responsibility of retribution to an administrative body to handle the task of bringing offenders to justice on behalf of the community. When the task of retribution is left to a governing body, it is done through a process where the offence is taken through a morality test.

When this is done, moral feelings are considered in determining the severity of a crime because moral convictions are reflected upon by the criminal law (Hudson, 2003). The direction or orientation of these moral feelings can influence the sanctioning of a punishment that qualifies to be termed as retribution. Punishments like the death sentence in some states United States of America is an example of retribution style of punishment. A criminal justice system that fails to control these urges and deliver a system that handles offenders in a humane manner irrespective of their crime, and would result in an outrageous administration of injustice.

Thus, retributive justice through the court system is a better way of punishing offenders because it meets the threshold of what is morally upright and correct (Hudson, 2003). Criminal deterrence as a mode of punishment is the formulation of policies and guidelines that are meant to discourage and prevent crime. The current criminal justice system of the United States postulates that if the public knows the consequences of breaking the law, it would discourage them from committing offenses (Hudson, 2003).

Through punishment especially the correction facilities and penitentiaries, the justice system seeks to set an example to those individuals harboring the idea of breaking the law again. The theory of deterrence states that individuals have to know what the law states so that they can know when they are breaking the law. A person should know the punishment associated with the offense they are about to commit because this makes a difference to a potential offender if the offense attracts a severe sentencing (Hudson, 2003).

For example, a bank robber should be aware of the penalty associated with the offense and a white collar embezzler who attracts a reprimand instead of a jail sentence. The forms of punishment available for committed crimes should be applicable in the sense that people know that the various forms of punishment are realized. The deterrence form of punishment is only effective in certain groups, of the population, particularly those who are more educated than uneducated individuals. Comparing a white collar criminal and an armed mugger in an alley on the street, shows that