Below I explain the four different types of punishment administered onto the criminals in America. I plan to evaluate and analyze there significance and to critique and question whether they are viable in our society.
The least severe and most common type of sanction imposed on Americans today is fines which are monetary retribution to the state and federal governments. Bart S. Becker defines and supports this in his essay, The Economics of Crime of and Punishment; he states “less serious offenses are punished primarily by fines”. While fines are used for lesser crimes than for other types of crime, it also suggests that in society freedom is not necessarily something you are born with but something you must pay for to keep. Therefore people that are stuck in poverty or struggling to get by, fines can become harsh sanctions resulting in possible no food for a day or week for a family become they were two minutes late to their car.
Next, if fines are not a justifiable sanction for the crime committed by the offender, then the judicial system looks to probation as the next step up when dealing with punishment. Probation allows for the government to punish an offender and keep a watchful eye on him or her without sentencing them to imprisonment. Probation typically is issued along with a series of fines, to pay back society. This form of punishment has become more popular than before with increasing higher number of offenders being sanctioned by probation. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics “Probation has accounted for half of the growth in the correctional population since 1990”. Probation is a great way to restore justice and also deter criminals from committing the crime again. Yet this type of punishment is close related to the Big Brother part of government that people don’t like… So the question here is this type of punishment a feasible and effective type?
A more serious way to punish criminals in America is to sentence them to a term of incarceration. With the growing rate of criminals being convicted of crimes across the country, incarceration as form of punishment has been pushed to the limits; with problems such as overcrowding and underfunding occurring across the board. One of the main reasons for the rising rate are part due to the style of punishment; Incarceration is largely influence on the concept of deterrence, where the sentence imposed on the criminal is to essential deter the criminal from further harm to society. But does this type of punishment truly deter criminals in the future? Are the criminals supposed to suffer in the prisons they are held in as a form of punishment too?
The last and most lethal form of punishment in American is capital punishment; the death penalty. This type of punishment is sure to be one of the longest running forms; just the sound of the words produces images of the electric chair or shooting quad. Crimes that are subject to capital punishment can vary in each jurisdiction but commonly capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, and even treason are some of the crimes that can make one eligible for the death penalty. Death by lethal injection is most popular in this country, yet not all states to administer this form of punishment. Some questions come to mind when considering this action as a punishment is: Do we have the right to put people to death? Is this the best solution? Does this fix the problem or is this a easiest? How does society benefit from one less member?
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