Punitive and Reformative

treatment of Criminals
Lecture 6
Concept of Punishment
Punishment is a means of social control. H.L.A. Hart have defined have
defined punishment in five elements.
1.It must involve pain or other consequence normally considered unpleasant.
2.It must be for an offence against legal rules.
3.It must be intentionally administered by human beings other than the
offender.
4.It must be an actual or supposed offenders for his offence.
5.It must be imposed and administered by an authority constituted by a legal
system against which the offence is committed.
 Punishment according to West
Mark is limited to “such
suffering as in inflicted upon the
offender in a definite way by or
in the name of the society of
which he is a permanent or
temporary member.”
Sutherland and Cressey
have mentioned two essential
ideas while defining the
concept of punishment:
a)It is inflicted by the group in its
corporate capacity upon one who
is regarded as a member of the
same group.
b)It involves pain or suffering
produced by design and
justified by some value that
the suffering is assumed to
have.
 Criminal Punishment and Criminal
Sentencing
Deterrence:
The perception of future punishments deters
crime. People are not punished merely for
what they have done, but also for the effect
their punishment will have on the future
behavior of others.
Specific Deterrence:
Experiencing harsh criminal punishments
should convince convicted offenders that
crime does not pay and recidivism is not in
their best interests. The “pains of
punishment” should inhibit future law
violations.
Incapacitation:
By incapacitating a convicted offender in a
secure facility, such as a prison or jail, the
state seeks to reduce or eliminate his or her
opportunity to commit future crimes.
Incapacitation involves anticipating behavior
patterns: offenders are confined not just for
what they have done but for what it is feared
they might do in the future.
Rehabilitation:
The purpose of sentencing is to reduce
future criminality by treating and
eliminating the underlying causes of
crime. Offenders are believed to have
one or more emotional or behavioral
deficits that cause them to violate the
law. Rehabilitation efforts focus on
emotional stress, vocational training,
education, or substance abuse.
Diversion:
In some instances, the court process is
aimed at sparing non dangerous
offenders from the stigma and labeling
of a criminal conviction and
involvement with the justice process.
Retribution:
Because criminals benefit from their
misdeeds, they deserve to be punished
for their criminal acts. According to this
view, it is only fair that criminals who
have committed the most serious crime,
murder, receive the most severe penalty,
death.
Equity/restitution:
it seems both fair and just to demand that they reimburse society for its
loss caused by their crimes. The equity goal of punishment means that
convicted criminals must pay back their victims for their loss, the justice
system for the costs of processing their case, and society for any
disruption they may have caused.
Restoration:
Defendants may be asked to confront their behavior, the damage they
caused the victim, and the shame they brought to their family, friends,
and community. The goal is to restore them to good standing in society.
Capital punishment:
also known as the 'death penalty, is the execution by the state of an individual
who has been convicted of a very serious crime. Typically, individuals are
executed for only the most serious crimes such as murder. However, some
jurisdictions impose capital punishment for less serious offences.
Corporal Punishment:
is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain in
order to punish a person convicted of a crime or as retribution for a perceived
offence, including physical correction.
Law of Imprisonments:
Sections 302 and 304 of the Pakistan Penal Code come into play, the two main
punishments in our criminal justice system are imprisonment and death. The
punishment in our system is perceived to be confined to abuse and torture while
positive reinforcement of punishment has no place in our law.
 Reformative Treatment of Criminal
According to concept of Reformative theory, the object of punishment should be the
reform of the criminal, through the method of individualization. It is based on the
humanistic principle that even if an offender commits a crime, he does not cease to be a
human being. He may have committed a crime under circumstances which might never
occur again.
The reformative theory is also known as rehabilitative sentencing. The purpose of punishment is
to “reform the offender as a person, so that he may become a normal law- abiding member of the
community once again.
Concept of Reformative Justice
Crime is a violation of people and relationships. It creates obligations to make things
right. Justice involves the victim, the offender, and the community in a search for
solutions that promote repair, reconciliation and reassurance.
 Repair, Reconciliation and Reassurance
Jails are locally operated correctional facilities that:

Confine persons before or after adjudication. Inmates sentenced to jail usually have a sentence of
one year or less.
Receive individuals pending summons and hold them awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing.
Readmit probation, parole, and bail-bond violators and escapees.
Temporarily detain juveniles pending transfer to juvenile authorities.
Hold mentally ill persons pending their movement to appropriate mental health facilities.
Hold individuals for the military, for protective custody for contempt, and for the courts as
witnesses.
Release convicted inmates to the community upon completion of sentence.
Transfer inmates to federal, state, or other authorities.
House inmates for federal, state, or other authorities because of crowding of their facilities.
Sometimes operate community-based programs as alternatives to incarceration.