Punishment

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The United States drop in crime over the past years brings up many questions to what is causing the decrease. Many Americans are pondering if it is financial changes, Cultural, or the punishment the American government is using. There are four major styles of punishment in the United States: Retribution, Deterrence, Rehabilitation, and Societal Protection. Research by Schultz & Allen (1967) shown:

One of the interesting aspects in American society is the widespread

belief that the whole range of violations of law, from reprehensible acts

(mala in sc) to merely forbidden behaviors (niala prohibita), can equally

be controlled by punishment. The problem is that attempts at deterre

nce by punishment of both these types of crime are probably less effective

than deterrence and control by other means.

Retribution has been a form of punishment since biblical times. It has been a common way to punish someone with retaliation being the intent to the offender. Many Americans still agree to this form of punishment, while others feel that this does not help the criminal improve him/herself. Retribution is usually seen as the criminal is getting what they deserve.

Crime deterrence is usually based on a theory that every individual is conscious of what is right and wrong and knowledgeable of the consequences of wrongful behavior. As John Miller (2008) explained:

The familiar question of whether the death penalty is a crime deterrent has experienced a recent revival thanks to new analyses. In one sophisticated

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study that draws upon 25 years of FBI data, Roy D. Adler and Michael Summers of Pepperdine University have calculated that each execution correlates with about 74 fewer murders the following year.

There are five basic ways the United States hopes to deter crime: loss of rights, fines, prison, torture, and finally death. To deter crime within individual’s punishment often works well when another means is also started (Brennan & Mednick, 1994).

Criminal Rehabilitation is a program that is cost efficient to American society and is another way of deterring criminals. When society supplies valuable programs to criminals during their stay in prison/jail it seems to give new hope and reassurance that the offender will not re-do his/her crime. According to Dennehy (2006) “We have learned that effective programs target offenders' level of risk and needs. Risk is the probability that an offender will commit new crimes.”

Societal Protection may be the final punishment for an offender. For example if a criminal continues to re-offend over and over again, the last method to safeguard society is either life imprisonment without parole or execution. A many number of policies, punishments, and rehabilitations have already been done over the past several years to protect society, but there needs to be more. For example, better monitoring of offenders that were released from prison/jail and keeping tabs on their rehabilitation procedures.

Americans tend to believe that rehabilitation is the answer to deter crime the most effectively. Rehabilitation tends to get offenders back into society and hopefully they do

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re-offend. Christianity seems to have a huge position in this way of thinking. Many Christians believe that if you ask for forgiveness then you will be forgiven. Rehabilitation

is on the same lines; ask for forgiveness within society, do your time, classes, and so-forth and you will be accepted back into society. There definitely needs to be a balance between punishment and rehabilitation.

As was stated before rehabilitation may work some of the time, but it all depends on the nature of a crime to decide which punishment is best for the offender. Giving the

death penalty to a first time stealer would not fit the crime just as a jail sentence of four days would not benefit a serial murderer. It seems that rehabilitation tends to work more efficiently with juveniles and/or first time offenders. It all boils down to what crime was committed and what punishment will work for that personal offender.

Deterring first time offenders is a remarkable idea, if it works. As with rehabilitation, deterring may not work for everybody. Retribution and