2025-05-09 Purposes of Punishment
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(Largely taken from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-criminallaw/chapter/1-5-the-purposes-of-punishment/)

Punishment has five recognised purposes:

- Deterrence

  - Specific

    - “I have been punished for doing X, it will be worse if I do it again”

  - General

    - “People are punished for doing X, I do not want that to happen to me”

- Incapacitation

  - Incarceration limits ability to reoffend
  - Confiscation of items limits ability to use them to reoffend

- Rehabilitation

  - Enforced programs can change behaviour

- Retribution

  - Removing victim/associate desire for revenge - “they have been adequately punished and I am satisfied”

- Restitution

  - Make the victim whole

Implementations overlap in terms of intended/potential purpose:

- All types of punishment can be Deterrence and Retribution
- Incarceration can also be Incapacitation and (hopefully) Rehabilitation
- Fines can also be Incapacitation and Restitution
- etc.