Some social-legal aspects of punishment

Abstract

"When the satisfaction of a man's basic needs falls below a certain level, he finds it increasingly difficult to struggle with his own everyday life, with all the pressures of social living. When basic needs have been met, a person can develop a relationship with other people and then he can find satisfaction in work or leisure. Many offenders lack these basic necessities, and until they are enabled to obtain them no amount of punishment will make them into conforming members of society." This exclamation formulated by a former prisoner in concentration camp, Dr Eugene Heimler, demonstrates that incarceration offers no solution to either the offender and to society. It is true that imprisonment protects the public by restraining the law-breaker for a time, yet on looking behind the criminal action one finds that unemployment, disrupted families or environments, certain conditions such as addiction to alcohol or drugs, and other mental or psychological disorders are the true factors which could be said to be responsible for the happening and / or re-occurrence of crime. It becomes clear then, that unless such complexities are taken care of, the problem of crime can never be solved. Today punishment has taken on a new dimension, in that although the criminal justice system is interested in punishing the offender, yet it is also interested in pulling the law-breaker together, which could only take place by recognising his needs. Rehabilitating the offender, helping him to conform with societal values is a sure recipe to prevent further crime. In chapter one of this dissertation, I will be discussing the historical evolution of punishment, stating the different forms of punishment which have been adopted so far. I will also be referring to the Enlightened age, in otherwords to that period where the first sound approach of punishment was made. Also included in this chapter is the classical school of punishment as well as the positive school of punishment. In part two, I will be discussing the modem approach of punishment, stating that nowadays punishment is guided by the principle of individualised justice and that although modem penology is definitely offender-orientated yet justice means also just deserts. I will also be pointing to the fact that victims of crime are increasingly being included in today's approach of punishment. I founded opportune to end this chapter by commenting and highlighting the importance of legislative involvement in the infliction of punishment, if justice is to be done effectively. In the last chapter, I will be discussing different non-custodial sanctions concentrating mainly on our present system of alternatives to imprisonment, but before doing this I thought that it will be right to give an introduction on imprisonment as punishment, pointing out its deficiencies so as to demonstrate why faith is increasingly being put on other alternatives to imprisonment.