Punishment_Research_Paper

Punishment Research Paper Erica Hutchinson SOC/120 January 8, 2012 Christine Teramoto Punishment Research Paper When thinking of a crime being committed, people often think of why' But as the same time people is also already thinking of what kind of punishment can be given. People ask these questioned every time and every day that crimes are being committed. As people are committing these crimes, the person committing the crimes are going to be categorized in one of the four justification types of punishments and they would be deterrence, societal protection, retribution and rehabilitation. People ask what kind of punishment determines crime in the U.S. society. Over the years these questions have been answered and they have also been debated on and either way you look at it, the answer is still unresolved. When it comes to the four types of punishment you have Deterrence which means “The attempt to discourage criminality through the use of punishment.” Deterrence comes from the eighteenth century. When it comes to committing a crime, people can decide rather to committee the crime or not. Deterrence determines rather to punish the person who is committing the crime to keep other from doing the same crime. (Collins, 2005). In the early days, this was the way to try to keep people from breaking the law, if they thought the punishment over ruled the pleasure of the crime being committed (Macionis, 2006). There are 16 states out of 50 that do not carry out the death penalty; the death penalty is also called the capital punishment. Being punished is another way to keep future crime happening, but since it doesn’t always work, then the punishment does not keep the person from committing the crime. Some people thinks that the thought of not getting caught committing the crime may cause them to continue with committing a crime over and over and then accept the punishment at a later time. When it comes to determining what kind of punishment to hand down to the criminal it depends on the justice system and doing this the justice systems then hopes the person will not committed the crime again and also hopes that other sees this one person getting this punishment and keeps other from wanting to commit the same crime (Collins, 2005). When deciding what kind of punishment also depends on what kind of crime was committed. When it comes to the four different types of punishment, societal protection and retribution are seen to be the harshest of them. Even with harsh punishment like these, crimes are still being committed by people every day. People has the choice every day to commit these crimes or not and they have this choice before they actually do commit these crimes. Knowing what kind of punishment they could receive this person still decided to commit the crime and who is to say this thought does not cross their minds while doing the crime. Certain punishment also works better on certain crimes. And certain punishment affects certain people in different ways as well. In certain ways, there are people who commit crimes over and over and these criminals needs to take out of the place of society and protects people in the society. At the same time the justice systems does not need to throw everyone who has committed a certain crime into jail. A good example would be, a husband and wife was thrown into jail just for not paying a late fee on some movie rental that totaled up in the amount of $13.00 (Stone, 2007). With this case of the husband and wife, a small fine would have been better than being thrown into jail. Throwing people into jail for some of the minor things could open up a cell block for someone who deserves it and has committed a much worse crime. Certain punishments can change someone’s mind of their own life and for other people the criminal mind will just keep going on and on. Another example a murderer could be sent to prison and could sit there for years and while they are in prison they could easily change their view and their life that way if they was to ever get out of jail they have a chance of being someone totally different than what they was when they went into jail to begin with. But yet on the other hand, for someone who was convicted of the exact same crime, that person could be sent to jail and in years later they could get released and commit the exact same crime all over again. No matter how you look at it, to deter a crime is impossible, but all can be done is to punish the people who continues to commit these crimes and hope they will turn their faith over to God and hope that they find a way to change their lifestyle. Society is in danger of crime every day when you think about it, and when it hits you or someone you love, you can think of nothing but the harshest way to punish the criminal that performs the crime, doing this is only human and it comes natural. At times the victim has to sit and watch the offenders get the lightest to no punishment. In many cases people who has committed such crimes as murder, rapes, sexual assaults, etc. could possibly get the smallest amount of jail time and then they could get out to be out in society and just to have the chance to do this crime all over again to someone else. When this does happen, it is when society get to feeling like the justice systems does not work for them either and that punishment was not served properly. Nonetheless, when it comes to the four acts of punishment they are meant to deter of criminal. When society tries to concentrate on doing what is right and trying to protect themselves and their families, is it the offenders that is stalking and scheming and plotting their next move and crime they are going to be committing. The intention of the justice system is to try to keep crime off of the streets and keep it safe for society. By enforcing the four types of punishments also help to file how a crime should be punished. Some of the time when the punishment is right for the kind of crime was committed it does help the criminal and they do sometimes learn from their mistakes and doesn’t commit another crime, although on some cases, it has no effects on the criminal. Some prisoners that are incarcerated do nothing for themselves to keep them from committing the same crime over and over again when they do get out of jail. One example some of the prisons gives the prisoners the chance to just sit around and watch television all day, and they get three free meals a day along with free room and board. Some prisoners think that they do not even get that privilege at home when they do have their freedom. What the justice systems needs to do is make the entire prisons feel like a prison and not a summer spa place. Make where when they are in prison then they have to do more than just be able to lounge around, then maybe the criminals would think twice about getting out and committing the same crime or even a different crime. When you think about it, in society no matter what you do or where you look, there will always be some sort of crime going on every day. It does not matter what kind of punishment is handed down, the biggest decision depends on the criminal to turn their life around and look towards God for guidance to help lead them away from the choice that would put them in where they want to or have to commit the crimes that they do. References Collins, H (2005). Punishment in today’s society Macionis, J.J. (2006). Society: The basics (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.