Crime and Proper Punishment

Shelflife

Its my belief that there is a lot of petty crime (petty probably not the right word as it messes up others lives) out there at the moment.

There seems to be no proper deterrent to these crimes such as shoplifting, vandalism, pick pockets, drunk and disorderly , looking at court cases it seems to be please dont do it again or else.

I believe that we need proper punishments for criminals, the above list usually will avoid jail terms but suspended sentences and small fines do little to change peoples behaviour.

What can we do to stamp out this type of criminality?

Birch?
Stocks?
Proper community service where they actually have to work hard?
Chain gangs/hard manual labour?

Maybe we have to go backwards with our punishments in order to make people think twice about their actions. There seems to be a consensus that we cant punish criminals too hard because of their "rights" but what of the rights of the ordinary citizen to go about their business without fear.

This isnt a hang them all thread, but a serious question as to what punishment would deter criminal behaviour.

234

Shelflife wrote: »

Its my belief

This is where your argument falls apart. While we could probably have a very interesting and enlightenting debate about the effectiveness of punishment as a deterrent and general criminal justice policy we all know where these threads lead. Have a look at the 'Deport Criminal to South America' thread. Without some research to provide a foundation for discussion all these threads decsend into shouting matches where people lament that the ECHR prevents us from executing shoplifters.

MagicSean

You're first 3 lines are spot on op. I think a two pronged change is needed. Prison needs to be made much more restrictive than it is but at the same time we need to have better probation and rehab programs to give people a better chance to stay out of prison in the first place.

Shelflife

234

Im just looking to see what others think about trying to deter repeat criminal behaviour.

I dont think that Jail is the solution to the crimes that I listed above.

We need a hot stove theory where you have the guilty party thinking well that wasnt worth it and vowing to stay clear of such crimes.

at the moment we seem to have nothing to deter petty criminality and something needs to be done about it.

Magicsean , i agree that some form of rehab/probation programme is badly needed but from what i can see in my own locality these criminals/delinquents seem to get arrested and learn no lessons at all.

My own opinion is that we start off with community service, then hard manual labour then stocks then birch. we just cant tolerate a system where criminal can do as they please and have no meaningful punishment.

by all means offer programmes to those who are willing to participate in them.

im just wondering what sensible/acceptable solutions are out there?

odds_on

IM Humble O, criminals do not think of the punishment they could receive when they break the law.

Take a simple case - speeding. How many of you have broken the speed limit while driving. Maybe you say to yourself - I hope I won't get caught. You don't think of the punishment.

Likewise, a murderer or sex offender, a common thief seldom thinks of the punishment while they are doing the crime.

Therefore, irrespective of the punishment the criminal will continue in most circumstances unless he has some kind of "treatment".

234

To be honest the view that crime can effectively be reduced by increased punishments is based on a classical view of criminology that has not been viewed as plausible for a century. In any case, research would suggest that the certainty of detection and conviction, rather than the severity of punishment, is a much more effective deterrent.