Crime and Punishment: Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Crime and Punishment
Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Social Justice and Equality
• Society and Freedom of Expression
• Crime and Punishment
• Politics and the Problem of Dirty
Hands
• War and Peace
• Case Studies
Crime and Punishment
• In ordinary language, the term crime denotes an
unlawful act punishable by a state.
• Criminal law prohibits certain forms of conduct such as
murder, assault, rape and burglary. Offenders are liable
to be punished, often with imprisonment.
• Punishment is a deprivation, taking away from offenders
what they value – their freedom or some of their money
when they are fined.
• We are normally not justified in depriving people of
these things. Even if we are justified in punishing
convicted offenders, there are limits to the extent of the
punishment.
• If a petty thief were sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment,
this would be considered excessive. On the other hand, if a
cold-blooded murderer were released after only one week
in jail, this would be condemned as excessively lenient
punishment.
– But how do we determine the appropriate amount of punishment
for various offenders? And what justifies punishment?
• Normative theories of punishment seek to answer these
and related questions.
• They state the conditions under which punishment is
justified, and provide the basis for assessing the correct
punishment.
Three Normative Theories of Punishment
• Retributive Theory
• Utilitarian Theory
• Reformative Theory
Retributive Theory
• Retributive means to give in turn. The central contention of
retributive theory is that punishment is justified because
wrongdoers deserve to suffer for what they have done.
• Some proponents appeal to the law of retaliation to specify that
the punishment should inflict on offenders what offenders have
done to their victims: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and
a life for a life.” The objective of this theory is to make the
criminal realize the suffering of the victim by subjecting him to
the same kind of pain as he had inflicted on the victim.
• Some proponents of retributive theory also try to justify
punishment by claiming that criminals have taken an unfair
advantage of law-abiding citizens, thereby upsetting the just
balance of benefits and burdens in social life.
Utilitarian Theory
• A utilitarian justifies punishment solely in terms of its good
consequences.
• Punishment is not considered as good in itself.
• The utilitarian regards every kind of suffering as bad in
itself, and to be justified only if it prevents even greater
suffering, or if it brings about greater good.
• If by punishing offenders you deter them from repeating
their crimes, or you prevent potential offenders from
committing similar crimes, then the punishment produces
desirable consequences which outweigh the harm to the
offender. So, the chief function of punishment is to reduce
crime.
Reformative Theory
• The reformative theory is the most popular
theory today. It holds that the proper aim of
criminal procedure is to reform the criminal so
that he may get readjusted in the society. This
theory is in fact a mixture of sentimental and
utilitarian motives.
• With the fading of faith in inflicting pain and
with the spread of humane thought, belief in
re-educating the criminal to enable him to
become a useful member of society developed.
• It may even require restriction of liberty and curtailment
of rights and privileges. In other words, the reformative
procedure must not be so pleasant as to encourage
further criminal activities but it must be so designed as to
produce desirable changes in the personalities of
offenders.
• Bentham argues that punishment is not an act of anger or
revenge but is an act of calculation, disciplined by
considerations of the social good and the offenders'
needs. The reformative and utilitarian justification of
punishment is that it would persuade the offender to
accept his sufferings and face his own guilt.
Concluding Remarks
• Normative theorists of punishment identify
different reasons to justify punishment.
• Since practice of punishment appears to
serve an essential social purpose in a
manner compatible with widely held
ethical views, the institution of punishment
survives, and shows every sign of doing so
for a long time to come.
Thank You.

Crime and Punishment: Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Crime and Punishment: Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Crime and Punishment: Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Crime and Punishment

Prof. Kumar Neeraj Sachdev

You might also like