Punishment

Punishment
The old village stocks in Chapeltown, Lancashire, England
For other uses, see Punishment (disambiguation).

Punishment is the authoritative imposition of something negative or unpleasant on a person or animal in response to behavior deemed wrong by an individual or group.[1][2][3][4][5] The authority may be either a group or a single person, and punishment may be carried out formally under a system of law or informally in other kinds of social settings such as within a family.[2] Negative consequences that are not authorized or that are administered without a breach of rules are not considered to be punishment as defined here.[4] The study and practice of the punishment of crimes, particularly as it applies to imprisonment, is called penology, or, often in modern texts, corrections; in this context, the punishment process is euphemistically called "correctional process".[6]

Fundamental justifications for punishment include: retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitations such as isolation in order to prevent the wrongdoer's having contact with potential victims.[7] Of the four justifications, only retribution is part of the definition of punishment and none of the other justifications are guaranteed outcomes.[4]

If only some of the conditions included in the definition of punishment are present, descriptions other than "punishment" may be considered more accurate. Inflicting something negative, or unpleasant, on a person or animal, without authority is considered either spite or revenge rather than punishment.[4] In addition, the word "punishment" is used as a metaphor, as when a boxer experiences "punishment" during a fight. In other situations breaking the rules may be rewarded, and is therefore without negative consequences, and so cannot be considered punishment. Finally the condition of breaking (or breaching) the rules must be satisfied to be considered punishment.[4]

Punishments differ in the degree of severity of their unpleasantness, and may include sanctions such as reprimands, deprivations of privileges or liberty, fines, incarcerations, ostracism, the infliction of pain, and the death penalty. Corporal punishment refers to punishments in which pain is intended to be inflicted upon the transgressor. Punishments may be judged as fair or unfair in terms of their degree of reciprocity and proportionality.[3] Punishment can be an integral part of socialization, and punishing unwanted behaviour is often part of a system of pedagogy or behavioral modification which also includes rewards.[8]

Contents

Definitions

In philosophy

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."[citation needed]

In psychology

Main article: Punishment (psychology)

Introduced by B.F. Skinner, punishment has a more restrictive and technical definition. Along with reinforcement it belongs under the Operant Conditioning category. Operant Conditioning refers to learning with either punishment or reinforcement. It is also referred to as response-stimulus conditioning. In psychology, punishment is the reduction of a behavior via application of an adverse stimulus ("positive punishment") or removal of a pleasant stimulus ("negative punishment"). Extra chores or spanking are examples of positive punishment, while making an offending student lose recess or play privileges are examples of negative 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

Punishments are applied for various purposes, most generally, to encourage and enforce proper behavior as defined by society or family. For example, there can be judicial punishment for breaches of the law. Punishment may also be applied on moral grounds.

Punishment aimed at discouraging cheating is sometimes called retaliatory or moralistic aggression;[citation needed] it has been observed in all[clarification needed] species of social animals, leading evolutionary biologists to conclude that it is an evolutionarily stable strategy, selected because it favors cooperative behavior.[9]

History and rationale

The progress of civilization has resulted in a change alike in the theory and in the method of punishment.[citation needed]

Seriousness of a crime; Punishment fits the crime

Further information: Felony and Misdemeanor

A principal of the rationale for the degree punishment meted out is that the punishment should fit the crime.[10][11][12] One standard for measurement is the degree to which a crime affects others or society. Measurements of the degree of seriousness of a crime have been developed.[13] A felony is generally considered to be a crime of "high seriousness", while a misdemeanor is not.

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 conflicting, justifications.

Deterrence / prevention

One reason given to justify punishment[7] is that it is a measure to prevent people from committing an offence - deterring previous offenders from re-offending, and preventing those who may be contemplating an offence they have not committed from actually committing it. This punishment is intended to be sufficient that people would choose not to commit the crime rather than experience the punishment. The aim is to deter everyone in the community from committing offences.

Rehabilitation

Main article: Rehabilitation (penology)

Some punishment includes work to reform and rehabilitate the wrongdoer so that they will not commit the offence again.[7] 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 see that their behavior was wrong.

Incapacitation / societal protection

Incapacitation as a justification of punishment[7] refers to the offender’s ability to commit further offences being removed. Imprisonment separates offenders from the community, removing or reducing their ability to carry out certain crimes. The death penalty does this in a permanent way. In some societies, people who stole have been punished by having their hands amputated.

Retribution

Main article: Retributive justice

Criminal activities typically give a benefit to the offender and a loss to the victim. Punishment has been justified as a measure of retributive justice,[7] in which the goal is to try to rebalance any unjust advantage gained by ensuring that the offender also suffers a loss. Sometimes viewed as a way of "getting even" with a wrongdoer — the suffering of the wrongdoer is seen as a desired goal in itself, even if it has no restorative benefits. One reason societies have administered punishments is to diminish the perceived need for retaliatory "street justice", blood feud and vigilantism.

Restoration

Main article: Restorative Justice

For minor offenses, punishment may take the form of the offender "righting the wrong", or restitution. Community service or compensation orders are examples of this sort of penalty.[14]

Education/Denunciation

Punishment can be explained by positive prevention theory to use the 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.

Punishment can serve as a means for society to publicly express denunciation of an action as being criminal. Besides educating people regarding what is not acceptable behavior, it serves the dual function of preventing vigilante justice by acknowledging public anger, while concurrently deterring future criminal activity by stigmatizing the offender. This is sometimes called the "Expressive Theory" of denunciation.[15] The pillory was a method for carrying out public denunciation.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Hugo, Adam Bedau (February 19, 2010). "Punishment, Crime and the State". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-punishment/#PunCriSta. Retrieved 2010-08-04. "The search for a precise definition of punishment that exercised some philosophers (for discussion and references see Scheid 1980) is likely to prove futile: but we can say that legal punishment involves the imposition of something that is intended to be burdensome or painful, on a supposed offender for a supposed crime, by a person or body who claims the authority to do so." 
  2. ^ a b McAnany, Patrick D. (August 2010). "Punishment". Online. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. http://gme.grolier.com/article?assetid=0238860-0. Retrieved 2010-08-04. "Punishment describes the imposition by some authority of a deprivation — usually painful — on a person who has violated a law, rule, or other norm. When the violation is of the criminal law of society there is a formal process of accusation and proof followed by imposition of a sentence by a designated official, usually a judge. Informally, any organized group — most typically the family, in rearing children — may punish perceived wrongdoers." 
  3. ^ a b Hugo, Adam Bedau (February 19, 2010). "Theory of Punishment". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/punishment/#2. Retrieved 2010-08-04. "Punishment under law... is the 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. (The classical formulation, conspicuous in Hobbes, for example, defines punishment by reference to imposing pain rather than to deprivations.) This definition, although imperfect because of its brevity, does allow us to bring out several essential points." 
  4. ^ a b c d e Peters, Richard Stanley (1966). Ethics and Education. pp. 267–268. JSTOR 3120772. "Punishment... involves the intentional infliction of pain or of something unpleasant on someone who has committed a breach of rules... by someone who is in authority, who has a right to act in this way. Otherwise, it would be impossible to distinguish 'punishment' from 'revenge'. People in authority can, of course, inflict pain on people at whim. But this would be called 'spite' unless it were inflicted as a consequence of a breach of rules on the part of the sufferer. Similarly a person in authority might give a person £5 as a consequence of his breaking a rule. But unless this were regarded as painful or at least unpleasant for the recipient it could not be counted as a case of 'punishment'. In other words at least three criteria of (i) intentional infliction of pain (ii) by someone in authority (iii) on a person as a consequence of a breach of rules on his part, must be satisfied if we are to call something a case of 'punishment'. There are, as is usual in such cases, examples that can be produced which do not satisfy all criteria. For instance there is a colloquialism which is used about boxers taking a lot of punishment from their opponents, in which only the first condition is present. But this is a metaphorical use which is peripheral to the central use of the term.

    In so far as the different 'theories' of punishment are answers to questions about the meaning of 'punishment', only the retributive theory is a possible one. There is no conceptual connection between 'punishment' and notions like those of 'deterrence', 'prevention' and 'reform'. For people can be punished without being prevented from repeating the offence, and without being made any better. It is also a further question whether they themselves or anyone else is deterred from committing the offence by punishment. But 'punishment' must involve 'retribution', for 'retribution' implies doing something to someone in return for what he has done.... Punishment, therefore, must be retributive—by definition." 

  5. ^ Kleining, John (October 1972). "R.S. Peters on Punishment". British Journal of Educational Studies 20 (3): 259–269. doi:10.1080/00071005.1972.9973352. JSTOR 3120772. "Unpleasantness inflicted without authority is revenge, and if whimsical, is spite.... There is no conceptual connection between punishment, or deterrence, or reform, for people can be punished without being prevented from repeating the offence, and without being made better. And it is also a further question whether they themselves, or anyone else is deterred from committing the offence by punishment." 
  6. ^ Mary Stohr; Anthony Walsh; Craig Hemmens (2008). Corrections: A Text/Reader. Sage. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4129-3773-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=LDcB7-EVi0cC&pg=PA2. 
  7. ^ a b c d e McAnany, Patrick D. (August 2010). "Justification for punishment (Punishment)". Online. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. http://gme.grolier.com/article?assetid=0238860-0. Retrieved 2010-09-16. "Because punishment is both painful and guilt producing, its application calls for a justification. In Western culture, four basic justifications have been given: retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. The history of formal punitive systems is one of a gradual transition from familial and tribal authority to the authority of organized society. Although parents today retain much basic authority to discipline their children, physical beatings and other severe deprivations—once widely tolerated—may now be called child abuse and result in criminal charges" 
  8. ^ Diana Kendall (2009). Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials (7th revised ed.). Cengage Learning. ISBN 0495598623. 
  9. ^ Mary Stohr; Anthony Walsh; Craig Hemmens (2008). Corrections: A Text/Reader. Sage. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-4129-3773-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=LDcB7-EVi0cC&pg=PA3. 
  10. ^ Doing Justice - The Choice of Punishments, A VONHIRSCH, 1976, p.220
  11. ^ Criminology, Larry J. Siegel
  12. ^ An Economic Analysis of the Criminal Law as Preference-Shaping Policy, Duke Law Journal, Feb 1990, Vol. 1, Kenneth Dau-Schmidt, [1]
  13. ^ Offense Seriousness Scaling: An Alternative to Scenario Methods, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Volume 9, Number 3, 309-322, DOI: 10.1007/BF01064464 James P. Lynch and Mona J. E. Danner, [2]
  14. ^ restitution
  15. ^ "Theory, Sources, and Limitations of Criminal Law". http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/study/outlines/html/crim/crim01.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-26. 
  16. ^ "Theories Of Punishment". Free Legal Encyclopedia. http://law.jrank.org/pages/9576/Punishment-THEORIES-PUNISHMENT.html. "Theories of punishment can be divided into two general philosophies: utilitarian and retributive." 

General references

External links


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  • punishment — pun·ish·ment n 1: the act of punishing 2: a penalty (as a fine or imprisonment) inflicted on an offender through the judicial and esp. criminal process see also cruel and unusual punishment Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster …   Law dictionary

  • punishment —    Punishment is the infliction of something bad (frequently, but not necessarily, pain or a loss of freedom) on a wrongdoer because of a wrong committed. Philosophical debate centres on the question of how, if at all, punishment can be justified …   Christian Philosophy

  • Punishment — Pun ish*ment, n. 1. The act of punishing. [1913 Webster] 2. Any pain, suffering, or loss inflicted on a person because of a crime or offense. [1913 Webster] I never gave them condign punishment. Shak. [1913 Webster] The rewards and punishments of …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • punishment — late 13c., from Anglo Fr. punisement (13c.), O.Fr. punissement, from punir (see PUNISH (Cf. punish)). Meaning “rough handling” is from 1811 …   Etymology dictionary

  • punishment — [n] penalty abuse, amercement, beating, castigation, chastening, chastisement, comeuppance, confiscation, correction, deprivation, disciplinary action, discipline, forfeit, forfeiture, gallows, hard work, infliction, just desserts*, lumps,… …   New thesaurus

  • punishment — ► NOUN 1) the action of punishing or the state of being punished. 2) the penalty imposed for an offence. 3) informal harsh or rough treatment …   English terms dictionary

  • punishment — [pun′ish mənt] n. 1. a punishing or being punished 2. a penalty imposed on an offender for a crime or wrongdoing 3. harsh or injurious treatment …   English World dictionary

  • PUNISHMENT — While there is no modern theory of punishment that cannot, in some form or other, be traced back to biblical concepts, the original and foremost purpose of punishment in biblical law was the appeasement of God. God abhors the criminal ways of… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • punishment — /pun ish meuhnt/, n. 1. the act of punishing. 2. the fact of being punished, as for an offense or fault. 3. a penalty inflicted for an offense, fault, etc. 4. severe handling or treatment. [1250 1300; ME punysshement < AF punisement, OF… …   Universalium

  • punishment — n. 1) to administer, mete out punishment to 2) to impose, inflict punishment on 3) to escape; suffer, take punishment 4) cruel, cruel and unusual; harsh, severe; just; light, mild punishment 5) capital; corporal; summary punishment 6) (mil.)… …   Combinatory dictionary

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