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The Role Of Punishment In Modern Society

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In this weeks reading assignment I read five different justifications for punishment in modern society. First, "Punishing law violators provides beneficial consequences." (Siegle & Bartollas 2014 pgs 4 &5) This method is beneficial because this method send a message to the law violators and to the public, that this type of behavior will not be tolerated and that there are consequences for violating the law. This, I believe, keeps society in order because without order we have chaos.

Second, "Punishment is deserved. Criminal sanctions are justified because those who voluntarily break the law forfeit some of the rights claimed by citizens." (Siegle & Bartollas 2014 pg 6) The guilty get the punishment that they deserve, this justification is …show more content…

A state cannot survive unless it maintains a set of rules that create, support, and protect its structure and process. As the government becomes more structured, these rules are formalized into laws designed to control behaviors that threaten state security and well-being. The law provides that people may be corrected or punished if they engage in socially proscribed wrongs-conduct that is condemned as wrong and threatens the social norm. The American economic system, based on capitalism and free enterprise, could not exist unless there were laws protecting private property and protecting businesspeople from fraud and embezzlement. Because criminal laws are designed to protect the social fabric, the defendant must answer not just to the individual victim, but to the whole polity through its criminal courts." (Siegle & Bartollas 2014 pgs 6 & 7) As I read this weeks assignment, more specifically, about general deterrence and specific deterrence and how the belief that "crime does not pay" applies to both of these. General deterrence is when a offender is punished so greatly that it sends a message throughout a community that committing that crime simply is not worth the punishment. (Siegle & Bartollas 2014 pg 7) Specific deterrence "focuses on the fact that the individual offenders should learn first hand that crime does not pay when they experience harsh criminal penalties." (Siegle & Bartollas 2014 pg 8) I do agree that crime does not pay. A life of crime, I believe costs a person so much, from time lost, memories lost, holidays, birthdays, family. If someone commits a crime, how can they really believe they will not be caught? In the technology driven world we live in there is always something that will get someone caught. If the offense is serious enough, is it really worth that offenders own life? Maybe to them it is. I have a nephew that has been in and out of juvenile

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