Punishment Philosophy

The punishment philosophy consists of three different parts. These include retribution, deterrence and, rehabilitation. In the retributivist punishment theory, the past is looked at. Immanuel Kant, an eighteenth century philosopher wrote his philosophy of law. In this, he argued, "punishment must in all cases be imposed because the individual has committed a crime." Kant argued further that if justice and righteousness perish, human life would no longer have any value in the world. This bore the idea of "just desserts." Kant's idea was closely linked to the Classicist theory by Italian philosopher Cesare Beccarria as well as the Social Contract Theory. Beccaria's theory was that the state must enforce rules and laws for its citizens. This breach would mean that the individual is punished accordingly. These philosophies hold true in the Western civilizations with the more serious of crimes carrying harsher sentences.

A second philosophical viewpoint is the restorative concept. It is thought that the restorative philosophy restores harm done to the victims, reintegrates the offender into civil society and, restores and rebuilds the community and aids in reducing crime. This recognizes the harm done not only to the victim, but also to the offender and his or her friends and family; to the social relationship between offender and victim; and to the wider community. The punishment ought to fit the crime.

It was not until the twentieth century that our last philosophy, rehabilitation grew. Rehabilitation philosophy is penal optimism or in other words faith in the ability of penal measures to bring about change. Many countries have abandoned fixed-term sentences instead; the length depended on the progress of the treatment. Rehabilitation has been influenced with regards to juvenile offenders. Unlike adults, juveniles are in more of a need for a moral education and respond much better to each teachings.

There are also two other counterparts to punishment philosophy. This is denunciation and incapacitation. Denunciation is a sub concept of the retributivist philosophy. This theory takes the view of society as characterized by value consensus. French sociologist Emile Durkheim puts it, the state is the "keeper of the collective consciousness," and certain morals are set into society. Denunciation serves the role of entrusting and enforcing an order of precedence, which would be agreed by all. Anyone who steps beyond the boundaries should be punished or denounced in order to "set an example."

The birth and growth of incapacitation as a means of explaining punishment has seen countries such as the United States of America impose tight laws in order to protect themselves against any foreseeable threat to security.

The Terrorism Act as well as the Patriot Act 2003 proves that today there is an ever-increasing view that incapacitation is the best means of punishment for