THEORIES OF PUNISHMENT

Criminal Law-I

ADAM KHAN
01-177181-055
 THEORIES OF PUNISHMENT

Punishment is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or

individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal

law—as a response and deterrent to a particular action or behavior that is deemed undesirable

or unacceptable. There are different kinds of punishment that a person can face. There are

majorly four theories of punishment.

These theories are the

 deterrent theory

 retributive theory

 preventive theory

 reformative theory

Deterrent Theory

There are two theories in which this theory can be divided further. They are specific

deterrence and general deterrence.

In specific deterrence, punishment is designed such that it can educate the criminals.

Thus, this can reform the criminals that are subjected to this theory. Also, it is

maintained that the punishment reforms the criminals. This is done by creating a fear

that the punishment will be repeated.

 While a general deterrence is designed to avoid future crime. So, this is done by making

an example of each defendant. Thus, it frightens the citizens to not do what the

defendant did.

Retributive theory

The retributive theory focuses on the crime itself as the reason for imposing punishment.

Where the utilitarian theory looks forward by basing punishment on social benefits, the

retributive theory looks backward at the transgression as the basis for punishment.

According to the retributivist, human beings have free will and are capable of making rational

decisions. An offender who is insane or otherwise incompetent should not be punished.

However, a person who makes a conscious choice to upset the balance of society should be

punished.  retribution against a wrongdoer is justified to protect the legitimate rights of both

society and the offender. Society shows its respect for the free will of the wrongdoer through

punishment. Punishment shows respect for the wrongdoer because it allows an offender to

pay the debt to society and then return to society, theoretically free of guilt and stigma.

Preventive Theory

This theory has used a restraint that an offender if repeats the criminal act is culpable for death,

exile or imprisonment. The theory gets its importance from the notion that society must be

protected from criminals. Thus, the punishment here is for solidarity and defense.

The modern criminologists saw the preventive theory from a different view. They first realized

that the social and economic forces should be removed from society. Also, one must pay
attention to individuals who show anti-social behavior. This is because of psychological and

biological handicaps.

Reformative Theory

Deterrence and retributive are examples of classical and non-classical philosophies. The

reformative theory was born out of the positive theory that the focal point of crime is positive

thinking. Thus, according to this theory, the objective of punishment needs to be reformation by

the offender.

So, this is not a punishment virtually but rather a rehabilitative process. Thus, this process helps

in making a criminal a good citizen as much as possible. Furthermore, it makes the citizen a

meaningful citizen and an upright straight man.