Punishment and Its Effects on American Society

Punishment 1

Punishment and Its Effects on American Society

Introduction to Sociology Course

[Your Name]

[Your University]

August 11, 2008

Punishment and Its Effects on American Society

Punishment as a component of the law is not something new. It is known to exist and been practiced since the early history of human existence. It is expressed in different forms and severity. It may be a temporary form of punishment such as imprisonment or imposing sorts of fine. It can be a life long punishment, such as life imprisonment. At the worst, punishment can be up to the extent of permanently removing the criminal from the society through death punishment. Punishment is believed to reduce crime, which has been a long existing unresolved problem of the society. The question in this subject is whether punishment is really doing good and had provided benefits to the criminals and the society as a whole.

The concept of punishment and its practical application and justification during the past half-century have shown a marked deviance from efforts to reform and rehabilitate offenders. The four justifications for punishment currently used in our society are retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation and societal protection. Retribution was designed to satisfy the people’s need for a type of closure that satisfies the moral of society. In principle, punishment should be equal in severity to the deviance itself. It all comes down to equal justice; an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth. Deterrence on the other hand, is an attempt to discourage crime by punishment. This punishment relies upon examples of punishment made known to everyone ahead of time before they choose to break the law. Later punishment created rehabilitation which tailors treatment to each offender. In general, punishment in its very concept is favorably perceived as a retributive practice. Our society uses these four forms of punishment attempting to lower crime rates. Any of these punishments sound effective in their own purposes but how well any of these has been effective is still out of a question.

Looking back at the American history, there was no time that prohibited punishment to the criminals. Early punishments were seen as more brutal than the current punishments. Just like any other countries, America has applied "a life for a life"and “tooth for a tooth" concept which is as old as civilization itself. (McCiellan, 1970) During the revolutionary period, American practiced hot tar application and skin feathering which was considered a barbaric punishment, yet suggested to be effective. (Colonial America Tarring and Feathering) There are so many kinds of punishments re-enforced which include slavery, imprisonment, and the most controversial capital punishment which remain a highly debated issue these days.

Capital punishment is a retributive punishment which is as well as old as civilization itself. Capital punishment mainly understood as a death penalty is a kind of punishment that has been imposed throughout the American history. Historic ancient society had been known to accept death penalty. It was widely used by the Roman law as well as the Mosaic Law which imposed the execution of Socrates and Jesus as a punishment. . The history of death penalty imposed by law was brought by the Britains to their colonized American territories. Since then, death penalty was widely accepted throughout the United States though not everyone approved of it. (Introduction to the Death Penalty) Most of the past and present opposers, repeatedly argue that the death penalty is applied unequally as most criminals on death row are poor who cannot afford good lawyers. “An injustice of law is seen in such kind of punishment as disproportionate number of racial minorities and the poor are sentenced to death, while white and/or affluent perpetrators have received lesser sentences for the same crimes.” (Davies, 2003) Putting an end to life as a punishment to someone who has done wrong is a very severe form of punishment. Thinking that a crime done can cost ones’ life, this kind of punishment is supposed to deter crime most effectively. But whether capital punishment or any other forms of punishment are really effective in deterring crimes is another question which answers remain questionable.

As previously mentioned, punishment is imposed as a measure in attempting to lower crime rates. With application of punishments since the early history, has this done any good to the society?

Crime is as old as the civilization rooting from many factors. Punishment has existed to control the people from doing the crime. Perhaps, the most popular international of controlling crime are policing and imprisonment. We know what imprisonment means. It is similar to caging a beast to avoid inflicting subsequent harm to the society. Imprisonment mean, segregating the criminals from the outside society which incapacitates an individual from living a normal outside life. The most significant cause of pain of being imprisoned is being away from the family.

Taking a closer look on imprisonment, the best thing from it, is that keeping away a person who has harmed the society. It means, the criminal is suppressed from committing any subsequent harm and will not be able to do retaliation acts. Well, that sounds good. Such punishment effect on the individual may cause dual effects- good and bad. The good effect can be perceived as the person being able to realize his wrongdoings and will learn his lessons that committing a crime does no nay good. However, punishment does not always guarantee renewal of the criminal. A criminal who has been punished still engage in crime depending on the circumstances. On the other hand, being behind the bars has many bad effects to the individual, apart from tainting a criminal’s reputation, his incapacitated ability to continue his normal life may mean a great loss. For instance, if the head of the family who has many dependents is imprisoned, it means great effects to the dependents. The dependent, particularly children, may not have enough financial support for proper nourishment and education thus no good torture is awaiting. That case can possibly grow citizens who can potentially cause crimes to the society. Prison time prevents crime through incapacitation rather than deterrence and such raises arguable questions about the effect of policing and punishments. Capital punishment will have similar effects. Apart from financial loss at the start of the crime trial, any criminal on a death row, can suffer from great loss leaving tremendous and traumatic effects to the family left behind. Generally, the deterrent effects of policing and punishment are hard to measure.

In United States, punishments have been in effect since the early period. Despite strong implementation of punishment which even increased its severity, crime has not significantly declined. The records of the United States crime rates from 1960 to 2006 did not show significant reduction of crime rates. As the general population increase, so does the total crime committed. There were few years which showed slight reduction of total crime on the subsequent year but the figures are really not so significant to think that punishments have been effective. On the other side, there is no any year that showed sudden spurt of total crime on the following years. (United States Crime Rates) We can think that owing to the yearly population increase, the total number of crime is following a regular pattern. Perhaps we can say that crime is a normal part of the society. Whether any form of punishments is really effective in deterring crime, remains a hard factor to measure. Interestingly, there has been a report associating high legalized abortion rates to a dramatic decline in crime rates in some states. (Drop in Crime Linked to Legalized Abortion, 2007) The changing level of morality of the society may have some impacts on this but how it is decreasing crime still needs lots of studies.

We know for sure that punishment is one of the pillars of justice imposed to protect the society. It is thought that "the only true way to make the mass of mankind see the beauty of justice is by showing to them in pretty plain terms the consequences of injustice.” (Crime and Punishment) However, we live in a complicated world which inhabitants strive hard for survival. Giving solution to the roots of the crime is perhaps the best strategy to deter a crime. For example poverty, is a well established root of a crime. (Holzer, H., Schanzenbach, D., 2007) If there is a great solution to poverty, perhaps crime will finally find some resolution. However, there remain many factors which trigger crime. Greed is on top of the list. We live in a society with complex people. As long as there is no universal unity, crimes will forever exist, no matter what punishment are there waiting for the criminals.

References

Colonial America tarring and feathering. Retrieved August 10, 2001 from NWtravel Magazine Online:

Crime and punishment. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from

Davies, A. Capital punishment: rational thought over ideology. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from the Ornery American Website:

Introduction to the death penalty. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from Death Penalty Information Center Online:

McCiellan, Grant S., ed. Capital punishment. New York: The H. W. Wilson
Company, 1970.

United States crime rates 1960 – 2006. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from The Disaster Center Online:

(2007). Drop in crime linked to legalized abortion. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from

(2007). Holzer, H., Schanzenbach, D., et al. The economic costs of poverty in the United States: subsequent effects of children growing up poor. Retrieved August 11, 2008 from