2025-05-09 Purposes of Punishment

(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.