Crime and Punishment

[Kermit]

My lecturer for criminal law today made a very good point about state punishment for breaking the law- why should they do it?

The philosophy falls into two nice groups- Kantian philosophy, which decrees that people should be punished for doing bad things, as it is their free will to impinge against others' free will, but that this punishment should be no more and no less than what is deserved; and Benthamite philosophy, which argues that people should be punished by loss of amenity (e.g. loss of money, loss of freedom) to compensate for the nation's loss of amenity.

On a random tangent, it scares me that Great Britain has, per capita, the most people on life sentences than anywhere else in Western Europe.

Personally, Im normally quite Benthamite in my politics, but for this time Im Kantian:)

[Dear Wendy]

Can I ask, when people are imprisoned, are they locked away as a punishment, or to protect society?

[BeckyBoo]

Originally posted by Kermit

On a random tangent, it scares me that Great Britain has, per capita, the most people on life sentences than anywhere else in Western Europe.



In other countries am I correct in thinking life sentence is a lot longer than here ? What would someone get for life in another country say for Murdering their partner ?

[Toadborg]

Originally posted by Kermit
My lecturer for criminal law today made a very good point about state punishment for breaking the law- why should they do it?



Because it is the states role to protect the citizens it serves, including from eachother.........

[xxauroraxx]

Originally posted by Jacqueline the Ripper
Can I ask, when people are imprisoned, are they locked away as a punishment, or to protect society?
I think a little of both. Personally I think the majority of people are locked away as punishment because there are far too many people in prisons in this country who pose little threat to their local communities.

[Toadborg]

Also people are put in prison for rehabilitation, so that they can become responsible members of the community again.......

[BeckyBoo]

Originally posted by Toadborg
Also people are put in prison for rehabilitation, so that they can become responsible members of the community again.......

What if they cannot be rehabilitated what happens then ?

Lets say Joe Bloggs has been imprisoned for 6 years, he has served his 6 year sentence but the prison warden knows that he has not been rehabilitated. He knows that soon as he is released he is going to re-offend? Would that be used in a court of law if and when he did go out and re-offend the next time. Would that influence the judge if he did re-offend and get caught ?

[Toadborg]

Well I think they are unlikely to release you early if they are sure that you will reoffend, depends what the offence is.

i don't think there are many people that you can realistically say are going to always be criminals, i think in most cases there is a chance of changing their course for the better, especially in the case of more minor crimes.............

[Harmless]

Well It would be nice if prison did prevent would-be-criminals from doing the minor crimes. I know the Government was looking at other (cheaper) ways to stop minor crimes, they were looking at enforcing a face-to-face apology policy.

But I'm not sure if must people would be happy with just an apology ? Would you if you‘ve been mugged?

[BeckyBoo]

Originally posted by Harmless
But I'm not sure if must people would be happy with just an apology ? Would you if you‘ve been mugged?

I think that might work with a few people but meeting over a cuppa with the person that mugged ya :eek2:

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by Toadborg
Well I think they are unlikely to release you early if they are sure that you will reoffend,
everyone gets released early wether or not they are deemed likely to reoffend. but you wont get parole ...which is different than early release ...if you haven't convinced them that your repentant and are going to behave.