Motives for Punishment

When talking of punishment for any crime we do not feel the need to
think of reasons or motives we as a society have for meting out the
punishment. Yet it is these very reasons we need to refect upon. Even
if implicit it is the motives that determine what sort of laws a society
has.
o let us take a look at various motives for punishment ! "# $orrection
%&eha'ilitation# ! the o(ender in incarcerated in the e)pectation that
he*she will see the wrong that he has done and refect upon it+ thus
helping him correct his 'ehavior in the future. ,# -eterrence
%preventive#! there are two su'types under this motive. one is what /
call personal preventive which 'asically means putting someone in
0ail to prevent him from committing any future crimes. econd is the
general preventive in which we hope that the e)ample of those who
have 'een convicted will serve as an e)ample to others in society and
help to deter any among them from committing crimes in the future. 1#
&etri'utive! this motive can 'e 'est summari2ed in the phrase he
must pay what he has done+ i.e. we would like to avenge the victim 'y
punishing the criminal.
3rom the a'ove it can 'e seen clearly that 'est of motives is
correction+ then deterrence and the 'asest is retri'utive+ for it is simply
vengeance al'eit state sponsored. 4ow if we take a look at any
punishment we can see that it is a generally a mi)ture of all these
motives in greater or lesser degrees. 3or e.g.! 5 punishment of few
months would have a ma0or motive the correction of the criminals
attitude+ personal deterrence in a lesser degree+ and almost no
element of vengeance. Even life imprisonment has all these motives+
admittedly with a very minor amount of corrective factor. 6he o(ender
may never get out in the society 'ut still has a chance to refect on his
wrongdoing and repent.
$apital punishment is uni7ue in that it has a'solutely no chance of
correction whatsoever. /t is an irreversi'le form of personal deterrence+
and an unnecessary one at that. Personal deterrence can
'e achieved e7ually e(ectively with life term. 6here is a'solutely no
proof that having capital punishment on the statute 'ook has reduced
crimes+ so it is ine(ective as a general deterrence method too. 6he
only reason for according death sentence instead of life imprisonment
is the idea of revenge. We do not allow people to take revenge for
themselves+ not 'ecause they might get it wrong %i.e. punish the wrong
person etc.# 'ut 'ecause we 8nd revenge to 'e morally unpalata'le.
Yet what 0usti8cation can we then have to let the government perform
the same action in our name9
Punishment for any given crime must depend on the nature of the
crime committed. 3or e)ample the criminals in the recent gang rape
case in -elhi do deserve the ma)imum punishment. there is no dou't
a'out that. 6he crime they committed is almost the worst thing
humans can do to other fellow humans. /t is human nature that such
a'horrent crimes make us wish for the criminals to su(er+ to accord
them the severest punishment we can. 6here is nothing wrong with
that. 6he 7uestion here is where we draw the line on ma)imum
punishment. /f it is okay to take human life in the name of 0ustice+ why
stop there9 Why not pu'lic hanging or even torture9 5llowing capital
punishment is like walking on a dangerously slippery slope. 6here is a
very thin line separating 0ustice and state sponsored murder. /t is a
line we must not cross.
Many that live deserve death. 5nd some that die deserve life. $an you
give it to them9 6hen do not 'e too eager to deal out death in
0udgment. : J R R Tolkien