punishment

Punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant or aversive on a person or animal in response to an unwanted, disobedient or morally wrong behavior.

Word history

The word is the abstract substantivation of the verb to punish, which is recorded in English since 1340, deriving from Old French puniss-, an extended form of the stem of punir "to punish," from Latin punire "inflict a penalty on, cause pain for some offense," earlier poenire, from poena "penalty, punishment".

Colloquial use of to punish for "to inflict heavy damage or loss" is first recorded in 1801, originally in boxing; for punishing as "hard-hitting" is from 1811.

Definitions

In common usage, the word "punishment" might be described as "an authorized imposition of deprivations — of freedom or privacy or other goods to which the person otherwise has a right, or the imposition of special burdens — because the person has been found guilty of some criminal violation, typically (though not invariably) involving harm to the innocent." (according to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).

The most common applications are in legal and similarly 'regulated' contexts, being the infliction of some kind of pain or loss upon a person for a misdeed, i.e. for transgressing a law or command (including prohibitions) given by some authority (such as an educator, employer or supervisor, public or private official).

In psychology

Main article: Punishment (psychology)

In the field of psychology punishment has a more restrictive and technical definition. In this field, punishment is the reduction of a behavior via a stimulus which is applied ("positive punishment") or removed ("negative punishment"). Making an offending student lose recess or play privileges are examples of negative punishment, while extra chores or spanking are examples of positive punishment. The definition requires that punishment is only determined after the fact by the reduction in behavior; if the offending behavior of the subject does not decrease then it is not considered punishment. There is some conflation of punishment and aversives, though an aversive that does not decrease behavior is not considered punishment.

Scope of application

The person who undergoes punishment may, depending on the context, be called punishee, client (as in psychology), or, more from the viewpoint of the discipliner, offender, culprit, bottom in BDSM etc.

• Most often, criminals are punished judicially, by fines, corporal punishment or custodial sentences such as prison; detainees risk further punishments for breaches of internal rules.
• Children, pupils and other trainees are also punished by their educators or instructors (mainly parents, guardians, or teachers, tutors and coaches). The same used to apply to wives and unmarried daughters as they were not legally emancipated from 'paternal' (or succeeding marital) discipline.
• Slaves, domestic and other servants used to be punishable by their masters; in fact, even modern employees can still be subject to a contractual form of fine or demotion.
• Most hierarchical organizations, such as military and police forces, or even churches, still apply quite rigid internal discipline, even with a judicial system of their own (court martial, canonical courts).
• Punishment may also be applied on moral, especially religious, grounds, as in penance (which is voluntary) or imposed in a theocracy with a religious police (as in a strict Islamic state like Iran or under the Taliban) or (though not a true theocracy) by Inquisition.
• In a wider sense, often termed penalty, punishments can be incurred for infringing the rules of a game, as in sports, hazing (e.g., in paddle games) etcetera. These include:
  • Being sent off or sent to the bench ("sin bin"—time in sin-bin varies from game to game: 45 seconds in water polo, 2–10 minutes in ice hockey, 10 minutes in rugby, etc.), or even barred from playing for the whole match or even longer (as with red cards in soccer)
  • Collective punishments, which don't only effect the offender but the whole team, such as penalty points, a shot at the goal for the opponent side, not being allowed to replace a player sent to the bench.

History and rationale

The progress of civilization has resulted in a vast change alike in the theory and in the method of punishment. In primitive society punishment was left to the individuals wronged or their families, and was vindictive or retributive: in quantity and quality it would bear no special relation to the character or gravity of the offence.

Gradually there would arise the idea of proportionate punishment, of which the characteristic type is an eye for an eye. The second stage was punishment by individuals under the control of the state, or community; in the third stage, with the growth of law, the state took over the primitive function and provided itself with the machinery of justice for the maintenance of public order. Henceforward crimes are against the state, and the exaction of punishment by the wronged individual is illegal (compare Lynch Law). Even at this stage the vindictive or retributive character of punishment remains, but gradually, and specially after the humanist movement under thinkers like Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham, new theories begin to emerge. Two chief trains of thought have combined in the condemnation of primitive theory and practice. On the one hand the retributive principle itself has been very largely superseded by the protective and the reformative; on the other punishments involving bodily pain have become objectionable to the general sense of society. Consequently corporal and even capital punishment occupy a far less prominent position, and tend everywhere to disappear. It began to be recognized also that stereotyped punishments, such as belong to penal codes, fail to take due account of the particular condition of an offence and the character and circumstances of the offender. A fixed fine, for example, operates very unequally on rich and poor.

Modern theories date from the 18th century, when the humanitarian movement began to teach the dignity of the individual and to emphasize his rationality and responsibility. The result was the reduction of punishment both in quantity and in severity, the improvement of the prison system, and the first attempts to study the psychology of crime and to distinguish between classes of criminals with a view to their improvement (see criminology, crime, juvenile delinquency).

These latter problems are the province of criminal anthropology and criminal sociology, sciences so called because they view crime as the outcome of anthropological viz. social conditions. The law breaker is himself a product of social evolution and cannot be regarded as solely responsible for his disposition to transgress. Habitual crime is thus to be treated as a disease. Punishment can, therefore, be justified only in so far as it either protects society by removing temporarily or permanently one who has injured it, or acting as a deterrent, or aims at the moral regeneration of the criminal. Thus the retributive theory of punishment with its criterion of justice as an end in itself gives place to a theory which regards punishment solely as a means to an end, utilitarian or moral, according as the common advantage or the good of the criminal is sought.

Michel Foucault describes in detail the evolution of punishment from hanging, drawing and quartering of medieval times to the modern systems of fines and prisons. He sees a trend in criminal punishment from vengeance by the King to a more practical, utilitarian concern for deterrence and rehabilitation.

A particularly harsh punishment is sometimes said to be draconian, after Draco, the lawgiver of the classical polis of Athens. But as the adjective Spartan still testifies, its wholly militarized rival Sparta was the harshest a state of law can be on its own citizens, e.g. crypteia (including flogging for being caught when stealing as ordered).

In operant conditioning, punishment is the presentation of a stimulus contingent on a response which results in a decrease in response strength (as evidenced by a decrease in the frequency of response). The effectiveness of punishment in suppressing the response depends on many factors, including the intensity of the stimulus and the consistency with which the stimulus is presented when the response occurs. In parenting, additional factors that increase the effectiveness of punishment include a verbal explanation of the reason for the punishment and a good relationship between the parent and the child.

Types of punishments

Punishment can be divided into Positive punishment (the application of an aversive stimulus, such as pain) and Negative punishment (the removal or denial of a desired object, condition, or aversive stimulus).

Criminal punishment

Defector from the Viet Cong who was sent to a prison camp and deliberately starved.

• Socio-economical punishments:

• fines or loss of income
• confiscation
• demotion, suspension or expulsion (especially in a strict hierarchy, such as military or clergy)
• restriction or loss of civic and other rights
• community service

• Corporal punishment. Legality of these types of punishment varies from country to country. However it can be defined more widely:

• Whipping or caning with various implements and on various body parts
• Marking via branding or mutilations such as amputation.
• Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, the most extreme form of punishment, sometimes used in countries where beating is seen as inhumane. See use of death penalty worldwide. Methods of capital punishment include crucifixion, hanging, the firing squad, burning at the stake, lethal injection, gas chambers, and starvation, among others.
• Uncomfortable positions, such as in too confined spaces or being tied down long in an unnatural position that puts muscles under increasingly painful stress
• Custodial sentences include imprisonment and other forms of forced detention (e.g., involuntary institutional psychiatry) and hard labor are in fact also physical punishments, even if no actual beatings are in force internally; note that behavioral psychologists do not consider prison a sound punishment because most criminals are repeat offenders, thus, their behavior has not changed. If the behavior does not change then any stimulus that was presented is not punishment just aversive.
• Forms of deprivation of sleep, food etcetera, though these are often unofficial or accessory
• Excessive physical efforts such as prolonged calisthenics
• Banishment or restraining order
• clinical castration for sexual assault is being tried in a few countries but may lead to charges of eugenics, since the individual is rendered infertile as a result

• Public humiliation often combines social elements with corporal punishment, and indeed often punishments from two or more categories are combined (especially when these are meant reinforce each-other's effect) as in the logic of penal harm.
• In the past, people in some parts of the Western world were punished by being put in the stocks, or by being ducked in water.

For children

Examples of punishments imposed by educators (parents, guardians or teachers etc.; traditions differ greatly in time, place and cultural sphere; some are considered illegal abuse in certain countries) include:

• Corporal punishment as above:
  • Mainly spanking in various modes (banned in some countries, in others even prescribed by law);
  • Washing out mouth with soap
  • Uncomfortable and/or humiliating positions
• Mild forms of custodial sentences
  • Time-outs such as corner-time or even locking up in a dark place
  • detention, often combined with tasks like studying, extra homework etc.
  • grounding in general or specific refusal of permission to participate in some fun activity or to see a friend (usually seen as a bad influence)
• Temporary (or permanent) removal of privileges, rights, or choices, such as lack of desserts or toys
• Compulsory activity such as extra chores

Even the above have come under criticism in recent times. Arguments against non-violent modification of behavior include the issue of ethics, and whether one's will should be forced on children. Positive parenting and Taking Children Seriously are non-punitive alternatives to modifying behavior.

While it is possible to classify corporal punishments by the categories of its scope of application (e.g. educational including parental and school discipline, other domestic, judicial etc.), i.e. by who can punish who and why, see above- this section elaborates the various ways to perform the physical torment.

Anatomical target

A crucial, inevitable choice is which part of the body is to suffer the painful treatment; sometimes a combination of several targets is chosen, so as to maximize the longer-lasting discomfort.

Several considerations can be taken into account, mainly :

• how painful is it
• how humiliating (especially if bared)
• how safe (except for deliberate mutilation -such as amputation and branding- or execution, grave permanent damage must be avoided) if badly hit and, even in more moderate cases, how incapacitating (unless the punishee is already under custodial sentence other than hard labor, physically disabling the victim to work is rather contraproductive instead of coercing better -obedient, productive- conduct).
• In addition, for instant discipline on the spot the preference tends to go to what can be hit immediately, especially if already bare (possibly so ordered or arranged) or scarcely protected by clothing, so often head and hands, or bare torso; secondly what can be bared with a simple gesture (lifting a dress or pulling down (under)garments, before proceeding with a spanking, paddling, etc.

Different parts of the anatomy represent different considerations for punishment:

• The buttocks are often targeted for punishment, indeed some languages have a specific word for their chastisement (in English, spanking, fessée in French, nalgada in Spanish (both Romanesque words directly derived from the word for buttock)- this is a logical choice for these rather large, fleshy body parts are sensitive without endangering any bodily functions, heal well and relatively fast and have an intimate connotation that implies intense humiliation, often increased as baring them often also exposes the genitals--care must be taken not to hit these accidentally, so protective padding may be used (also for the kidneys) with dangerous implements, even if the spankee is otherwise stark naked
• although lower parts of the back of the legs, notably thighs and calves, are reportedly about as sensitive and no more incapacitating, making them a logical alternative in cultures where a bare bottom is too indecent, they are rarely targeted
• the back and the shoulders are the second most common choice; as long as the spine (paralysis possible) and excessive abuse of the kidneys (irreparable) is avoided, great pain is possible with limited incapacitation and humiliation, suitable for an adult 'honor corps' as often in the military
• the abdomen and the ribs are again rather dangerous for 'accidental' damage, and hence not a common target
• except for deliberate mutilation, the genitalia are rarely targeted, though very sensitive and the most humiliating, for the damage is to hard to control (except with sophisticated modern methods such as electrodes)
• joints (such as knees) are an even more illogical, indeed rather rare choice: no humiliation, grave risk of incapacitation and even permanent damage
• the head is also a dangerous choice, but more popular, especially the cheeks (relatively safe; indeed the same word is used for the bottom: butt-cheeks) and boxing the ears (hearing disability tends to manifest itself years later, so it's often ignored)
• the hand of primates is perhaps evolution's finest product in terms of multifunctionality and precision (hence the notion 'dexterity'), requiring a sophisticated sense of touch; it is quite sensitive and not humiliating, while great force, especially with a hard implement, could cause excessive damage, so usually only the (most fleshy) palm is hit rather than the knuckles, and even then incapacitation (for manual labor and writing as in class) is generally a drawback
• the soles of the feet are extremely sensitive, in se not humiliating, but quite incapacitating for a long time, while full recovery is possible even after an excruciating dose- see falaka

Still other methods are aimed at the interior, such as non-lethal intoxication, forced-feeding; at the muscles (difficult positions, exercices); or at the whole body, as with hunger, thirst, exhaustion.

Set and props

Except for 'daily' light punishment, physical discipline is often ritualized, even staged in a rather theatrical fashion.

As the great variety of practices, even in similar jurisdictions, suggests, tradition and the taste of the punishing parties in place often carry at least as much weight as objective practical considerations, especially if one considers there seems to have been relatively little effort to obtain functional knowledge from systematic comparative research.

Site & Location

While light and informal punishment is often administered on the spot, for serious discipline and in an institutional context there are often no rules at all, either laid down as such or deriving from written rules (e.g. if a juvenile is to receive his lashing/whipping from the police, he is logically brought there for punishment).

Apparatus

Contraptions the punishee is to be over, on and/or fixed to do not only have a practical function (which is their origin) during punishment but can also be left in place as a permanent, dissuasive display of the authority to inflict painful punishment, to deter disobedience that may cause the observing 'jurisdictional subject' to end up there for a lashing. See further under spanking, also for related positioning.

• Falaka
• frame
• punishment horse
• trestle

Punitive implements

A variety of implements are used for physical punishment. The terms used to describe these are not fixed, varying by country and by context. There are, however, a number of common types which are frequently encountered when reading about corporal punishment. These include the following - link through for more detailed information an each, the labels here are :

• Rods, varying in size and flexibility.
  • A thin, flexible rod is often called a switch.
  • The Birch, a number of strong, flexible branches, bound together in their natural state.
  • Caning with canes of various types, most notably durable species of rottan, known at the rattan, or similar non-flat solid implements in on piece, e.g. (hickory) stick; even heavier cudgels.
• The Paddle, a flat wooden or leather pad with a handle, sometimes holed, is still commonly used for corporal punishment in the USA.
• For flogging, various flexible implements are used, mostly in leather (modifications such as knots, holes or hard -e.g. metal, bone- objects fixed on them render he 'bite' considerably harder), including:
  • Straps of various types including (razor) strop.
  • not to be confused with the lighter belt (thinner, suppler) which is often doubled, yet in Scotland and northern England, the term belt is also a euphemism for the tawse, a strap split into a number of tails at one end.
  • Whips are common in judicial punishment and prison discipline, with varieties including crops, the famous Russian knout and South African sjambok
  • multi-thong equivalents include the scourge and martinet in leather; while rope is the most common material for a flogger and the cat o' nine tails (mainly used in naval discipline, for army and judicial including prison flogging a leather version was common; there were also milder forms and variants).
• axe, knife, sword and other blanc weapons or even the surgical scalpel etc are generally used for punishments named otherwise than by the instrument, rather by the damage down by cutting bodyparts, as in flaying, castration or (indetermined) amputation
• a hot iron is used for branding (alternatively a tattoo-like technique) and other burn wounds

However, it is frequent for informal -mainly non-institutional- corporal punishment to be administered with whatever object comes to hand. It is common, for instance, wooden spoons, slippers or hairbrush (wooden or ebony backside) or bath brush to be used in domestic punishment, whilst rulers and other classroom equipment have been used in schools, as well as some items adopted from domestic practice, such as slippering (unlike booting not on the foot but wielded by hand, rather like a paddle).

In BDSM, the term pervertible is used for various objects than can be used as punitive implements.

Other

• chemicals, such as poison, biting acid

Dramatis personae

While a summary punishment can routinely be performed with only two participants, e.g. an educator putting a naughty child over his lap and spanking its bottom while scolding its misdeeds, there is often, especially with a more severe punishment and/or in an institutional context, a more elaborate and formalistic procedure which can involve a small host of cast members, most of whom can make a difference to what exactly will happen and how

On the punishing side

• It all starts with the authority to punish : for judicial punishment, this is normally the legislator, who defines the rules, at least in principle, as to which inacceptable actions are to be met with painful punishment, and who can apply them; the rules can be extremely precise, or at least aim to be, in determining a concordance between crime and punishment, or leave considerable margin; sometimes a specific case is dealt with at this very level, as for a political crime; in other spheres, often within general rules laid down by the actual legislator, the rules can be made by the school board, the master of the slaves/household, etcetera. However in real life minor punishments are often left to the ad hoc discretion of the discipliner, even where severe punishments have to be met with formal procedure- e.g.
• Next there is the role of the judge, who determines for each punishable deed whether the conditions for application are met and fixes the fitting punishment; this judgment can go into more details, usually including (possibly simply repeating the specifications in the rules, sometimes modifying those) the anatomical target, the implement, the number of strokes, and whether the victim will be bared; in the non-judicial spheres, this can be for example the teacher in class or the headmaster, dean of discipline etcetera (often only for graver offenses), an overseer, any officer or subaltern, etcetera
• Finally there is the actual punishment officer(s) charged with the physical execution; while in private spheres this is often the same as the 'judge', judicial sentences are generally ordered to be carried out by a third party specified by the law or in the judgment (otherwise it lay be impicite custom), usually the police, (para)military, prison staff, even a bailiff, or a professional executioner; imprecise judgments may leave considerable discretion to this level, e.g. determining with which implement to administer a punishment merely expressed in an ambivalent wording such as 'lashes', leaving a choice from the customary arsenal of implements, definitely affecting the gravity of the beating. Occasionally two or more officers (e.g. bosun's mates wielding the cat o' nine tails) take turns in administering a considerable number of lashes, so as to be 'fresh' enough to hit hard; a subtle ploy is including a left-handed one, so as the assure the stripes will frequently crisscross, which cuts even deeper
• Sometimes an element of revenge is build in by allowing a party grieved by the punishee the satisfaction (even greater when naked and/or over the lap) of administering all or part of the sentence, or is even built in at corps spirit level, as described in the article fustuarium
• Alternatively a prisoner may be charged, as a trustee, with administering punishment to other convicts, as was commonly the case in imperial Russia's judicial knout floggings.
• Sometimes the choice of a specific administrator is guided by the punishee's expected perception:
• Some may only play a subsidiary role, such as to fetch implements, to tie down the victim, to grip him down (say one per limb; hence called holder-down- as these get a very close view, or even divest, the humiliation factor is thus enhanced in case of punishment in the bare) or even to be used physically to horse him on
• Occasionally several punishees are even made to use the same implement on each-other; as in trading licks, or even because the punishment officer would get too tired during a mass beating

The victim of the punishment

The punished party is often described by terms referring to his legal or other punishable status, e.g. convict, prisoner, culprit, miscreant, offender, or to the type of punishment imposed, e.g. spankee, whippee.

• While he is the center of attention, as a rule little or no choice is given to him (or if so it's often meant to be tantalizing, neither option being preferable, e.g. a graver implement or more cuts), and his submission is coerced, e.g. extra swats for not maintaining the imposed (exposed) position or on the hands if they move in a reflex to the agonizing posterior.
• Furthermore in some cases punishees are even forced -a rather sadistic ploy- to some cooperation, such as sailors having to prepare a cat o' nine tails for use on their own back; children sent to cut a switch or rod (possibly in advance, e.g., once a year as a reminder of being subject to it) for use on their own bottoms, again under threat of extra cuts; or less dramatically children or pledges fetching (or in the latter case even supplying) the cane or paddle for their own chastisement

Medical officer(s)

• often it is prescribed by law, sentence or custom that a medically qualified person must examine the condemned (in the judicial sphere, not in the domestic model) to estimate whether his condition (e.g. cardiological) requires the beating to be postponed, mitigated or even abandoned, though generally this is a formality
• usually the same stays to observe the execution of the sentence, in principle to intervene if the victim is in excessive (especially mortal) danger, but again this rarely results in cessation (some die nevertheless), or he even limits himself to bringing the convict back to conscience
• after the wounds have been inflicted, especially with an instrument reputed for its damaging bite, such as the judicial cane or cat o'nine tails, either the same as above or -especially if there was none yet- another, such as prison infirmary staff, generally examines the wounds, which may urgently require medical care such as disinfecting and dressing

Passive witnesses

• Especially if a precise punishment is imposed by regulations or specified in a formal sentence, often one or more official witnesses are prescribed, or somehow specified (e.g. from the faculty in a school, court -, police - or military officers) to see to the correct execution. Although this is often motivated as a guarantee against excess and for fair application, many victims rather perceive them as further embarrassment.
• a party grieved by the punishee may be allowed the satisfaction of witnessing the humbled state of exposure and agony
• the presence of peers, such as class mates, or an even more public venue such as a pillory on a square, in modern times even press presence, may serve two purposes: increasing the humilitation of the punishee and serving as an example to the audience
• arrangements for peers subjects to the same punishment, or in line to suffer it soon, to hear the agony or see the beaten punishee frog-marched afterwards or even under the shower may be designed to terrify them

Other parameters of severity

• Firstly there is the dosing: how many strokes? This is of course easy to prescribe, so the choice is clearly attributed.
• An objective flaw in the system is that only mechanical administration (not practiced for beatings, as opposed to say the guillotine in capital punishment) would make the dosage an objective measure of the force applied, allowing a realistic estimation of the corporal damage it inflicts; even then, the actual level of induced pain can only be guessed as it depends on the individually varied threshold of sensitivity, even if allowances are made for such factors as age/size, but a discipliner who repeatedly punishes the same person(s) (such as an educator) may get a reasonable feel for it, raising the dilemma if justice is best served by equal punishment for equal crimes or by equal suffering
• Various subtle modes of application also influence the efficiency of a stroke, e.g. British policemen wielding the birch learned it hurts even more if a move of the hand makes it slide along (like a claw) just when it reaches the bare skin

Giles Cory was pressed to death during the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690s as he didn't plead

• Some punishments have an in-built vagueness of severity, even an interative character, e.g. crushing as coercitive torture to force an accused to enter a plea would become an execution by his/her 'obstinacy' until asphyxiation occurs.

Procedure

For further details on positions and sequence of actions, see under spanking : most is identical or derives logically from what is said there

Other

• penance
• psychological punishments
• reinforcement

Possible reasons for punishment

See also: Criminal justice

There are many possible reasons that might be given to justify or explain why someone ought to be punished; here follows a broad outline of typical, possibly contradictory justifications.

Deterrence

Deterrence means dissuading someone from future wrongdoing, by making the punishment severe enough that the benefit gained from the offense is outweighed by the cost (and probability) of the punishment.

Deterrence is a very common reason given for why someone should be punished. It is often believed that punishment, especially if made known to or even witnessed by the punishee's peers, can also deter them from committing similarly punishable offences, and thus serves a greater good preventively.

However, it is sometimes claimed that using punishment as a deterrent has the fundamental flaw that human nature tends to ignore the possibility of punishment until they are caught, and actually can be attracted even more to the 'forbidden fruit', or even for various reasons glorify the punishee, e.g. admiring a fellow for 'taking it like a man'. Furthermore, especially with children and depending on the issue, feelings of bitterness and resentment can arouse towards the punisher (parent) who threaten a child with punishment as it doesn't feel respected.

Punishment is also used to deter animals from undesired behavior, such as urinating indoors or clawing furniture. It must be applied as soon as possible when the animal 'misbehaves', ideally interrupting or preventing it from occurring. In example, if a cat approaches a chair leg and rears up to scratch it, squirting it with water would punish the behavior, making it less likely in the future.

Punishment is also used occasionally within the treatment for individuals with certain mental or developmental disorders, such as autism, to deter or at least reduce the occurrence of behavior which can be injurious (such as head banging or self-mutilation), dangerous (such as biting others) or socially stigmatizing (such as stereotypical repetition of phrases or noises). In this case, each time the undesired behavior occurs, punishment is applied to reduce future instances. Generally the use of punishment in these situations is considered ethically acceptable if the corrected behavior is a significant threat to the individual and/or to others.

Arguably deterrence, regardless of effectiveness and justification, does not qualify as punishment when the punishee (child, animal or mental patient) was not sufficiently aware that its act would be considered punishable misbehavior and hence did not make a 'guilty' choice.

Rehabilitation

Some punishment includes work to reform and rehabilitate the wrongdoer so that they will not commit the offense again. This is distinguished from deterrence, in that the goal here is to change the offender's attitude to what they have done, and make them come to accept that their behaviour was wrong.

Incapacitation

In the prison system, imprisonment has the effect of confining prisoners, physically preventing them from committing crimes against those outside, i.e. protecting the community. The most dangerous criminals may be sentenced to life imprisonment, or even to irreparable alternatives — the death penalty, or castration of sexual offenders — for this reason of the common good.

Restoration

Main article: Restorative Justice

For minor offences, punishment may take the form of the offender "righting the wrong"; for example, a vandal might be made to clean up the mess he has made.

In more serious cases, punishment in the form of fines and compensation payments may also be considered a sort of "restoration".

Some libertarians argue that full restoration or restitution on an individualistic basis is all that is ever just, and that this is compatible with both retributivism and a utilitarian degree of deterrence.[1]

Revenge, Retributive justice, or Retribution

Retribution is the practice of "getting even" with a wrongdoer — the suffering of the wrongdoer is seen as good in itself, even if it has no other benefits. One reason for societies to include this judicial element is to diminish the perceived need for street justice, blood revenge and vigilantism. However, some argue that this is a "zero sum game", that such acts of street justice and blood revenge are not removed from society, but responsibility for carrying them out is merely transferred to the state.

Retribution sets an important standard on punishment — the transgressor must get what he deserves, but no more. Therefore, a thief put to death is not retribution; a murderer put to death is. Adam Smith, who is credited as the father of Capitalism, wrote extensively about punishment. In his view, an important reason for punishment is not only deterrence, but also satisfying the resentment of the victim. Moreover, in the case of the death penalty, the retribution goes to the dead victim, not his family. (So, to extend Smith's views, a murderer can be spared the death penalty only by the victim's express wish, made when he was alive.) One great difficulty of this approach is that of judging exactly what it is that the transgressor "deserves". For instance, it may be retribution to put a thief to death if he steals a family's only means of livelihood; conversely, mitigating circumstances may lead to the conclusion that the execution of a murderer is not retribution.

A specific way to elaborate this concept in the very punishment is the mirror punishment (the more literal applications of "an eye for an eye"), a penal form of 'poetic justice' which reflects the nature or means of the crime in the means of (mainly corporal) punishment.

Honoring Values

Punishment can be seen to honor the values codified in law. In this view, the value of human life is seen to be honored by the punishment of a murderer. Proponents of capital punishment have been known to base their position on this concept. Victor Balest takes this even farther as he maintains that it is immoral of a society not to apply such retributive justice in a case where the guilt of the criminal has been proven beyond doubt and where all legal appeals have been legitimized and exhausted. Retributive justice is, in his view, a moral mandate that societies must guarantee and act upon. He contends that if wrongdoing goes unpunished, individual citizens will become demoralized and this ultimately undermines the moral fabric of the society. Not to punish wrongdoing is unfair, and it has recently been shown in clinical studies of primates that fairness and lack of fairness is inherently understood and acted upon.

There are some commentators such as Chuck Colson who accept this view as valid but believe that the fallibility of human justice systems should preclude using it as a justification.

Education

From German Criminal Law, Punishment can be explained by positive prevention theory to use criminal justice system to teach people what are the social norms for what is correct and acts as a reinforcement. It teaches people to obey the law and eliminates the free-rider principle of people not obeying the law getting away with it.

Sources and References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
  • Punishment
  • Legal Punishment
• Etymology OnLine
• Leo Zaibert, Punishment And Retribution (Ashgate Publishing 2006)

See also

• Reward, an antonym of punishment
• The Punisher, a Marvel comics anti-hero

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