Theories of punishment English Jurisprudence LLB Notes

 

Theories of punishments.

1)Introduction;-

 The most common functions of a state are two, war and administration of justice and administration of justice classified into two parts ,civil justice and criminal justice. The purpose of the criminal justice is to punish the wrong doer who is punished by the state. Purpose of punishment is to make men better or protection of the society. With the passage of time, various theories for punishments have been given by different jurists.

2)Definition of punishment;-

 Punishment is a method of protecting the society from criminal by reducing the occurrence
of criminal acts.

3)Definition of crime;-

 Crime is an act which violates the public rights which have been legally recognized by the
state and are punishable under the law.

4)Definition of criminal justice;-

 Criminal justice is the body of law which deals with the offences and the imposition of punishments for offender against their violations.

5)Theories of punishment;-

There are certain theories behind the concept of punishment;

1. Deterrent (Dra kr rokna) theory;-

    According to this theory of punishment, purpose of punishment is to deter the offender
from committing crimes again as well as keep other people away from committing the
crimes.The aim of punishment is not revenge but terror.

 Criticism;-

There is a lot of criticism on the deterrent theory of punishment in modern time

A) To harsh punishment creates the sympathy in the hearts of people for
offender

B) To harsh punishment makes the offender more cruel instead of accept the
fear of law

C) Harsh punishments lose its fear once the criminal is punished

2. Preventive theory;-

 According to this theory of punishment, purpose of this theory is prevention of the
people from crimes which is only possible by disabling the offender by imposition of
different kinds of punishment such as imprisonment, death, deportee, disables the
physical power of offender to commit the offence again
 According to this theory all criminals should be imprisoned and kept far away from the
normal society without any connection to it. By using this method, the society will be
protected from the criminals.

 Example;-

An example of the preventive punishment is the cancellation of the driving license
of a driver

Criticism;-

There is a lot of criticism on the preventive theory of punishment in modern time

A) When offender puts in jail, it breeds (Nasal) more crimes

B) For a long time keeping him in a jail with habitual offenders, it makes him
more cruel.

3. Reformative theory;-

 According to this theory of punishment, the purpose of punishment is reformation
of the offender, even if offender commits a crime ,He must be educated and taught some industrial arts during the period of imprisonment so that he may be able to start his life after his release from jail.

Criticism;-

There is a lot of criticism on the deterrent theory of punishment in modern time
If a criminal to be sent in jail for transformation into a good citizens, in this case, the
will become a comfortable place for criminal. This kind of behavior with the
criminals will be helping the criminal to commit more crimes in future because they
know that in prison they will not be punished'

4. Retributive (Badla) theory;-

According to this theory of punishment, In ancient age, the only purpose of this punishment was only on the revenge. The person wronged was allowed to have his revenge against the wrong doer and
the wrong doer will give the same punishment as had been suffered by the victim.The principle of this theory was “an eye for an eye” and “ a life for a life” and “a teeth for a teeth” was recognized and followed

 Criticism;-

There is a lot of criticism on the deterrent theory of punishment in modern time
Critics points out that the retributive punishment is not a judicial remedy for the crimes committed by the offender but retributive punishment in itself abolishes the value of judicial proceedings and people start believe on revenge which leaves a bad influence on the minds of people.

5. Compensatory theory;-

 According to this theory of punishment, the purpose of punishment is to compensate the victim which creates a financial pressure upon an offender who violates the rights of the people of the society.
If a victim may lose his property by the offender in this case, according to this theory the offender will be liable to return the property to his real owner.

Criticism;-

There is a lot of criticism on compensatory theory of punishment
.
A) If offence is performed by a poor offender it is not possible that
compensation may be taken

B) If an offender is a rich person so the payment for compensation may be not
punishment for him

6. Expiatory (compensation) theory;-

This theory is similar to the compensatory theory, according to this theory;compensation is paid to the victim by the wrong doer.
 The idea behind expiation theory is that the current justice system forgets about the victim or about their family, and just focuses on punishing the criminal.

7. Utilitarian theory;-

The utilitarian theory does not support any particular theory
 But it is purely based on Penal measures and followers of this theory believe that punishment is a method for reducing crimes ,no matter which kind of punishment is give.
Followers of this theory say that the aim of punishment is to achieve good concerns for this each and every kind of punishment should be given.

6)Types of crimes in Pakistan;-

Following are the types of crime in Pakistan which are punishable under the Pakistan penal code

1) Murder

2) Rape

3) Robbery

4) Theft

5) Undue influence

6) Corruption

7) Cyber crime

8) Human trafficking

9) Attempt to suicide

7)Objectives of Punishment;-

Following are the objectives of the punishment

1) The major objective of the punishment is the protection of the life from offender

2) Second objective of the punishment is the protection of the property of the people

3) Another objective of the punishment is the protection of the state and country

4) Theory of punishment aim is the maintenance of the peace and equality

5) Protection of the culture and morality

6) Most important objective is protection of rights and liberties of the people

7) The biggest aim of punishment is to disgrace the crimes and criminal activities

8) To prevent the other members of the community from repeating of crimes

8)Conclusion;-

The perfect system of criminal justice cannot be based upon any one theory of punishment because each and every theory has its own merits and all efforts are being put in order to gain good results against criminals. The deterrent aspect of punishment must not be ignored as well as reformative theory must be given its due place. The purpose of the criminal justice is prevent society from repetition of crimes by offender and there are a lot of methods to keep offender away from committing crimes again.