There are different definitions of punishment because this term can be used in many fields. We are interested in the legal field. Punishment is a wide range of means such as penalty or sanction, which are given for the crime.
There are five probable purposes of criminals’ punishment. They are incapacitation, deterrence, restitution, retribution, and rehabilitation. Incapacitation is aimed at keeping a felon in prison. He/she will not be able to commit a new crime while being imprisoned. If the crime was very cruel, the felon can be sentenced to capital punishment. It will not give him/her possibility to commit the crime once more. Deterrence has another influence on people. People have a fear of committing the crime or engaging anybody in it. Retribution is one of the strongest purposes of punishment (Bentham, 2010). The criminals harm society, and victims can do harm in turn. Rehabilitation’s purpose is to change offender’s mind and to make him/her become a valuable member of society. Restitution is one of the purposes, which allows victim to regain his/her status in the society. The offender must perform some actions, which will help the victim to regain the status. Punishment assists in it. In addition, there are two more purposes, which can show that punishment is a vital process. They are education and denunciation. Education helps offenders to realize what they did and that it was wrong. Denunciation of the community also helps to become better and to return to the community with new and right views.
Every person has the right to make a mistake. I assume that the punishment is the best way of improving the person’s moral qualities. If the person feels himself/herself unpunished, she/he can commit the crime repeatedly. Of course, from the childhood, our parents teach us what is good and what is bad. However, sometimes in the adult life, people choose the wrong way, and punishment helps them to realize their mistakes and to become a full-fledged member of society.
Some people say that a person has no right to judge anybody. Only God can do it. However, without legal system and punishment the chaos can enclose the world.
Sometimes, people commit very cruel crimes and they deserve the most severe punishment such as like capital punishment. Some countries refused to implement the capital punishment because they think that it is inhumane. In my opinion, in cases of cruel crimes, the capital punishment is the way of protecting people from such offenders. Nobody can guarantee that such people will become better and will never commit such crimes again.