Rutik

DIV B

1182190104

TY BBA-LLB

ASSIGNMENT FOR CRIMINOLOGY AND PENOLOGY MID TERM

SUBMITTED TO PROF.AMEET SHINDE

QUESTION

1) Explain theories of punishment in brief?

Punishments

Punishments are imposed on the wrong doers with the object to deter them to
repeat the same wrong doing and reform them into law- abiding citizens. A
Punishment is a consequence of an offense. Punishment generally is provided in
Criminal Law. It is a social control. According to Salmond’s: Crime is an act
deemed by law to be

 harmful for the society as a whole though its immediate victim may be an
individual. Sutherland and Cressey have mentioned two essential ideas
 while defining the concept of punishment:

a) It is inflicted by the group in its corporate capacity upon one who is

regarded as a member of the same group. War is not punishment for in war the
action is directed against foreigners.
b) It involves pain or suffering produced by design and justified by some
value that the suffering is assumed to have.

Types of Punishment :

A) Deterrent Theory

B) Retributive Theory

C) Preventive Theory

D) Reformative Theory

1. 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 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. The basic
idea of deterrence is to deter both offenders and others from committing a
similar offence.

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.

2. Retributive Theory
'Retributive' means , punitive or payback or make a return to." In
Primitive society punishment was mainly retributive. The person
wronged was allowed to have revenge against the wrongdoer. The
Principle of 'an eye for an eye', 'a tooth for a tooth ', a nail for nail, limb
for limb was the basis of criminal administration.
According to Justice Holmes 'It is commonly known that the early forms
of legal procedure were grounded in vengeance.' According to Sir John
Salmond the retributive purpose of punishment consist in avenging the
wrong done by the criminal to society.
The idea behind this theory is to make the offender realize the suffering /
pain. The advocates of this theory plead that the criminal deserve to
suffer. The suffering imposed by the State in its corporate capacity is
considered the political counterpart of individual revenge. It is urged that
unless the criminal receives the punishment he deserves, one or both of
the following effects will result, namely, the victim will seek individual
revenge, which may mean lynching (killing or punishing violently ), or
the victim will refuse to make a complaint or offer testimony and State
will therefore be handicapped in dealing with criminals . The modern
criminology discards retribution in the sense of vengeance, but in the
 sense of reprobation, it must always be an essential element in any form
of punishment

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.

3. Preventive theory
Preventive theory is also known as 'theory of disablement.' According to
this theory, punishment is based on the proposition, "not to avenge crime
but to prevent it" The aim of this theory is to disable the criminal.
Offenders are disabled from repeating the crime by awarding
punishments, such as death, exile or forfeiture of an office. By putting the
criminal in jail, he is prevented from committing another crime.
The supporters of this theory recognize imprisonment as the best mode of
punishment because it serves as an effective deterrent as also a useful
preventive measure. Bentham supported the preventive theory because of
its humanizing influence on criminal law.

According to Justice Holmes " There can be no case in which the law-
maker makes certain conduct criminal without his thereby showing a
wish and purpose to prevent that conduct. Prevention would accordingly
seem to be the chief and only universal purpose of punishment. The law
threaten certain pains if you do certain things, intending thereby to give
you a new motive for not doing them. If you persist in doing them, it has
to inflict the pains in order that its threats may continue to be believed."
According to Paton : " The Preventive theory concentrates on the
prisoner and seeks to prevent him from offending again in the future. The
death penalty and exile serve the same purpose.

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.
4. Reformative Theory
According to Reformative theory, the object is of punishment is the
reformation of criminals. This theory seeks to bring about a change in the
attitude of offender so as to rehabilitate him as a law abiding member of
society. Even if an offender commits a crime under certain circumstances,
he does not cease to be a human being. The circumstances under which
he committed the crime may not occur again. Crime is a mental disease,
caused by different anti-social elements. Therefore the mental cure of
criminals rather than awarding punishment will serve the purpose. If the
criminals are educated and trained, they will be competent to behave well
in the society.
The object of the punishment should be reform the offender. The
criminal must be educated and taught some art or craft or industry during
his term of imprisonment, so that they may be able to lead a good life and
become a responsible and respectable citizen after release from jail.
While awarding punishment judge should study the character and age of
the offender, his early breeding, family background, his education and
environment, the circumstances under which he or she committed the
crime, the motive which prompted him or her indulge in criminal
activities, etc. The object of doing so is to acquaint the judge with the
circumstances under which the offence was committed so that he could
award punishment that could be serve the ends of justice.

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.