E - PSDA REPORT

THEORIES OF PUNISHMENT

Student Name: Abhishek Kumar Singh

Class: B.B.A LL.B Section: A1
Batch: 2019 – 2024 Enrollment No. : 05051103519
E-Mail: abhi40040@gmail.com Mobile No. : 9654477539
Subject Faculty: Prof. Bhavish Gupta
Subject Code: LLB 205
DME LAW SCHOOL
 About Indian Penal Code
The IPC is the official Criminal Code of India.

Citation is Act no. 45 of 1860

Applicable to whole India, including Jammu & Kashmir after the abolishment of
Article 370 of Indian Constitution on 5 August 2019.

Enacted by Imperial Legislature Council on 6 October 1860, and came into force
from 1 January 1862.

Indian Penal Code is divided into 23 chapters and have 511 sections.
 Punishment
Punishment is given to the offenders with the aim to prevent them from
committing crimes again.
Section 53 to 75 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 deals with the scheme of
Punishment. Section 53 of the Indian Penal Code prescribes five kinds of
punishments.
Punishment is a process by which the state inflicts some pain to the persons or
property of person who is found guilty of Crime. In other words punishment is
sanction imposed on an accused for the infringement of the established rules.
Black Law Dictionary defines punishment as, “in criminal Law, any pain,
penalty, suffering, or confinement inflicted upon a person by the authority of the
law and the judgment and sentence of a court, for some crime or offense
committed by him, or for his omission of a duty enjoined by law”.
 Types of Punishment
The punishments which are Corporal includes:
1. Death, which is usually denominated capital punishment;
2. Imprisonment, which is either with or without labor; vide Penitentiary;
3. Whipping, in some states;
4. Banishment and death

The punishments which are Non-corporal includes:

1. Fines;
2. Forfeiture;
3. Suspension or deprivation of some political or civil right, deprivation of
office, and being rendered incapable to hold office;
4. Compulsion to remove nuisances.
 Punishments
• The punishments to which offenders are liable under the provision of
this code are-
1. Death:-
• Section 121 – waging war against Govt of India,
• Section 132 – Abetment of Mutiny,
• Section 194 – Fabrication of fake evidence ,
• Section 302 - Murder,
• Section 305 – Abetment of suicide of child or insane person,
• Section 307 – Attempt to Murder,
• Section 396 – Dacoity with Murder
2. Imprisonment: Section 168, 169, 172, 174, 175,176, 178, 179, 180, 188, 194,
223, 228, 291, 341, 449, 500, 501, 502, 509 and 510.

3. Forfeiture of Property:- Section 61, 62, 126, 127 and 169.

4. Fine:- Section 137, 154, 155, 171G-H-I, 278, 283, 290 and 290A
 Theories of Punishment
Kinds of Punishment under Criminal Laws
The ancient punishments were brought to England. Until the 19th century, the Death Penalty or Capital
Punishment was imposed in England for more than 200 different crimes. Most of these crimes were petty
violations, such as pick-pocketing or swindling. Until the 19th century, corporal punishment in England
could consist of whipping, branding, or the cutting off of a body part. Noses, ears, hands, fingers, toes,
and feet were all subject to removal for criminal acts. The American colonies adopted and cultivated the
traditional punishments of England. The most common punishments were corporal and capital.

In the words of Sir John Salmond, “The ends of criminal justice are four in number, and
in respect to the purposes served by the them punishment can be divided as:
1. Deterrent Theory
2. Retributive Theory
3. Preventive Theory
4. Reformative Theory
 Deterrent Theory

The term “Deter” means to abstain from doing an act. The main purpose of this
theory is to deter (prevent) the criminals from doing the crime or repeating the
same crime in future. Under this theory, severe (strong) punishments are
inflicted upon the offender so that he abstains from committing a crime in future
and it would also be a lesson to the other members of the society, as to what can
be the consequences of committing a crime. This theory has proved effective,
even though it has certain defects.
• 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.
 Criticism : 

• There is a lot of criticism of the deterrent theory of punishment in modern times.

It has been criticized on the grounds that it has proved ineffective in checking
crimes and also that excessive harshness of punishment tends to defeat its own
purpose by arousing the sympathy of the public towards those who are given cruel
and inhuman punishment. Hardened criminals are not afraid of punishment.
Punishment losses its horror once the criminal is punished.
 Retributive Theory

This theory of punishment is based on the principle- “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth, blood for blood”. Retribute means to give in turn. The object of this theory is to
make the criminal realize the suffering of the pain by subjecting him to the same kind of pain
as he had inflicted on the victim. This theory aims at taking a revenge rather than social
welfare and transformation. In ancient times, if somebody was murdered, his relatives used
to find out the murderer and kill him and thus took revenge on him. Although this theory was
popular in the ancient time, but the theory has not been supported by the Criminologists, A
Penologists and Sociologists as they feel that this theory is brutal and baric.
• The penalty given will be equivalent to the grievance caused by the person.

• Performed a crime of certain culpability.

• That similar persons have been imposed for similar offenses.

• That the action performed was by him and he was only responsible for it.
Also, he had full knowledge of the penalty system and possible
consequences.
 Criticism : 

•  Critics of retributive theory points out that punishment per se is not a remedy
for the mischief  committed by the offender. It merely aggravates the mischief.
Punishment in itself evil and can be justified only on the ground that it yields
better result. Revenge is wild justice. Retribution is only a subsidiary purpose
served by punishment. 
 Preventive Theory

• The preventive theory is founded on the idea of preventing repetition of crime by disabling
the offender through measures such as imprisonment, forfeiture, death punishment and
suspension of license. As per this theory, the idea is to keep the offender away from the
society. This criminal under this theory is punished with death, life imprisonment etc. This
theory has been criticized by some jurists.

• We well remember the works of a judge who uttered the following sentence, while
awarding punishment to the criminal, “I am giving punishment to you not because you
stole the sheep but because of the fact that people should not steal sheep in future”.
• 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.
 Criticism : 

•  Critics points out that Preventative Punishment has the undesirable effect of
hardening first offenders, or juvenile offenders, when imprisonment is the
punishment, by putting them in the association of Harden Criminals.
 Reformative Theory
The supports of Reformative Theory maintain that crime is a kind of disease
and the criminal should be treated well, so that he may be able to recover from
this disease. Crime should be diagnosed and then Proper treatment should be
given to the criminal. The idea behind this theory is that- “no one is a born
Criminal and criminals are also humans”.

Under this theory, it is believed that if the criminals are trained and educated,
they can be transformed into law abiding citizens. This theory has been proved
to be successful and accepted by many jurists.
• Many writers on this subject are of the opinion that a person commits a crime
only because he was not taught moral Lessons in his childhood, or he is
extremely poor, he does not have square meals or lives or had to live in the
polluted social environment or had been living in the company of bad person like
thieves, dacoits and gamblers and drunkards or is suffering from some mental
disease. The supporters of Reformative theory opine that the government should
adopt measures to remove such bad conditions and thus prevent crime.
 Criticism : 

Critics of this theory state that if Criminals are sent to prison to be transformed into
good citizens, a prison will no longer be a 'prison' but a dwelling house.

 This theory has been proved to be successful in case of young offenders.

Thank You