This document discusses the theories and concepts of punishment in criminology

1. TYPES OF PUNISHMENT

2. Topic Outline
 Types of Punishment-
i. Traditional and contemporary punishments
ii. Types of traditional punishment
iii. Types of contemporary punishments in the
statutes
iv. Custodial and non-custodial punishments
v. Arguments for and against custodial punishments

3. Introduction
 The criminal law strives ceaselessly for a
balance between too much and too little:
punishing citizens too harshly for their
actions can cause more harm too society
than the offense being punished, while
being too lenient with punishment
weakens the criminal law's effectiveness
and can erode its very purpose. Criminal
law and procedure seek what is neither
excessive nor insufficient, but in fact the
just and equal punishment for the crime.
 Punishment is perhaps the most
characteristic feature of the criminal law.
So, an understanding of the purposes of
punishment, and what society hopes to
achieve by punishing is necessary for those
seeking to understand the criminal law.
Criminology traditionally identifies four
purposes of punishment.
 Criminal law and procedure seek what is neither excessive
nor insufficient, but in fact the just and equal punishment
for the crime.
 Punishment is perhaps the most characteristic feature of
the criminal law. So, an understanding of the purposes of
punishment, and what society hopes to achieve by
punishing is necessary for those seeking to understand the
criminal law. Criminology traditionally identifies four
purposes of punishment.
 These are,
• to restrain and remove from society;
• to inflict retribution for the damage done to society;
• to rehabilitate criminal offenders; and,
• to deter the individual and others in general from
further crime.

4. Traditional and Contemporary
Punishment
What is Punishment?
 The infliction or imposition
of a penalty for an offence
 Criminal punishments are
government sanctions
imposed on persons
convicted of criminal acts
Criminal punishment requires clear and
convincing justification for two essential
reasons;
1. Punishment should be unpleasant and
harmful to the offender. It usually involves
some loss of liberty or other harsh
treatment, and often causes harm to the
offender’s family.
2. Punishment consumes scarce public
resources that might be better spent on
other pressing needs, or on alternate ways
of achieving the justification(s) for
punishment.

5. Punishment Justification and Goals
 can be either positive or
negative criteria:
 they can provide moral
and/or practical arguments
in favor of the punishment,
 they can set limits on the
type or degree of
punishment that it is
permissible to impose under
one or more of the positive
rationales.
 Whether positive or
negative, punishment
justifications and goals fall
into two major categories.
i.
i. Deontological rationales (deontology falls within the domain of
moral theories that guide and assess our choices of what we
ought to do, and within the domain of moral theories that assess
our choices, deontologists—those who subscribe to deontological
theories of morality—stand in opposition to consequentialists)
and limits evaluate a particular punishment according to its
inherent value—whether it is a good or a bad thing in itself,
regardless of whether the punishment yields good or bad
consequences.
ii. “consequentialist” (or utilitarian); punishment is justified and
limited according to whether it produces good or bad effects, in
particular whether it tends to decrease future criminal acts by
the offender and/or other would-be offenders.
Some theories of punishment belong entirely to one or the other of
these two main categories, but a number of hybrid or mixed theories
have been proposed, incorporating both deontological and
consequentialist principles, and most modern legal systems take this
approach

6. Classification of Punishment
 There are either
corporeal or non-
corporeal.
 Corporeal punishments
are any that are inflicted
on the body, such as
incarceration, whipping,
forced labor or death. We
can call these, physical
punishments
 Non-corporeal punishments take the
form of fines, suspension or
deprivation of office of civil rights
(e.g., the right to vote), forfeitures
and so on.
 They are non-physical punishments

7. History of Punishment
 Crime has existed since the dawn
of time, but the ways in which
humanity has dealt with it has
evolved. Sometimes it's a direct
reflection of our priorities, and
other times, it's an example of our
humanity at play. But the evolution
of crime and punishment says a lot
about how humanity has grown and
evolved, as well.
 It has led to the development of
modern criminology, a respected
social science with the aim of
preventing crime by learning why
and how it occurs.
 So, when did crime and punishment start? How has
it changed over the centuries? What factors lead
people to commit crimes? In this guide, we'll
answer all these questions and discuss the
historical background of punishment — from the
inhumane to the ethical.
Punishments were not always as logical as the laws
themselves. The punishments could be extremely
horrrible and cruel since they relied heavily upon the
laws of retribution, or "an eye for an eye." So, if a
man broke his colleague's leg, then his punishment
would be to have his own leg broken. The
punishments could end up being as severe as
mutilation, dismemberment or even violent death.

8. History of Punishment Contd
 For hundreds of years, punishment was a vicious cycle that led to
many blood feuds among families
 Eventually, people realized that having families constantly seeking
revenge on each other was not a productive way to live, so laws
and rules regarding crime and punishment were established.
 These new laws were designed so that the punishment matched
the crime, even though more often than not, the punishment was
still inflicted by the victim as a form of revenge.
 The Code of Hammurabi became one of the first legal codes to be
established, and modern criminal justice is still influenced by it.

9. Hammurabi and the Laws of Retribution
 Hammurabi was a Babylonian king who ruled
from 1792 until 1750 B.C.E. The Code of
Hammurabi was a set of legal precedents for
different types of crimes and disputes, ranging
from family law to contracts and major
crimes — this is one of the earliest examples of
the "innocent until proven guilty" adage that
we still follow today.
 The Code of Hammurabi included specific
punishments based on the criminal's age, social
class and gender. For example, if a rich man
was found guilty of stealing, he would be
charged a higher fine than if a slave was found
guilty of stealing. Alternately, the punishment
for killing a rich person would be far more
severe than for killing a slave.
Plato and Aristotle
 Early philosophers play a major role in how we
look at crime and punishment today. They also
help us understand why crime and punishment
are important. They helped humanity
understand that the reason for committing a
crime can have an impact on how severe a
punishment should be.
 Plato and Aristotle, in particular, are responsible for our understanding
of the relationship between crime and punishment today. These two
philosophers helped us understand why itis equally important to
uncover why a person commits a crime as it is to ensure others do not
commit the same crime. They also pointed out that the two are often
closely related, as well:
 Plato: Plato claimed that a major reason why people commit crimes
was because of a lack of education and wealth. People who lived in
poverty and who were uneducated — probably because they couldn't
afford to get an education — were more likely to commit crimes, often
just to survive. Plato believed that crimes should be punished, of
course, but the punishment should reflect the degree of fault rather
than the severity of the crime. For example, if a man was caught
stealing bread to feed his starving family, he should receive a lesser
punishment than a man who steals bread for himself.
 Aristotle: on the other hand, Aristotle explained that punishments and
responses to crime should be used as an opportunity to prevent others
from committing crimes. He believed that when criminals receive
punishment, it should be severe enough that it warns the rest of
society to not commit the same crime while also reminding the
criminal to not commit a crime again

10. Middle Ages and Christianity
 The evolution of crime and punishment took a few steps
backward in the Middle Ages when the rise of Christianity
closely linked punishment to religion again. This meant,
once that, crimes were considered to be acts against
God, and punishments for these crimes were God's work.
 The punishments were still cruel, severe and often
inhumane, because they were designed to “rid the
criminal of the devil’s influence”. Historical crime and
punishment were violent and gory, including a type of
punishment designated for situations in which a person's
guilt was unclear.
 In a "trial by ordeal," a person would be put into a life-
threatening situation, and their survival would reveal
whether they were guilty or innocent.
Roman Law and Secularism
 The Romans were the first people to
look at crime and punishment as a
purely human trait. Historical crime and
punishment commonly claimed that
punishing a criminal was "doing God's
work" and that committing a crime was
the same as sinning.
 But the Romans saw crime as an insult
to society as a whole, and Roman Law
was established to bring order to
society. Roman Law was less concerned
about pleasing religious deities and
more concerned with ensuring society
was safe, orderly and fair.
 Many of the basics of Roman Law are
still practiced in modern civil law and
criminal justice in the 21st century.

11. St. Thomas Aquinas
 It wasn't until St. Thomas Aquinas wrote
his "Summa Theologica," a treatise on
law, crime and punishment, that the
history of punishment started turning
towards secularism. Aquinas explained
that there was a God-given "natural law"
that existed and that humans were
naturally designed to do good.
 When a human committed a crime,
Aquinas believed it was both an affront
on God as well as society. He claimed
that crimes negatively impacted both the
victims and the criminals. The victim was
negatively impacted because they were
the victim of a crime, but the criminal
was to be pitied because, by committing
a crime, they were moving further away
from God and losing their humanity.
 It was Aquinas and his compassionate
take on punishments that helped create
modern laws.
Cesare Beccaria and Secularism
 Secularism has ‘popped up’ and disappeared several times
throughout the history of crime and punishment. But the
eventual separation of church and state brought around a new
way of thinking about crime and punishment — a way that
stuck.
 Italian writer Cesare Beccaria wrote a book — called "On
Crime and Punishment" — in which he stated that punishments
should match the severity of a crime and that it should be a
way to scare others from committing crimes.
 This is not a new idea, but it caught the attention of many,
because Beccaria also stated that it was more important to
prevent crime than to punish it. He also believed that there
should be laws and rules in place that everyone must follow
when it comes to handing out punishments. He believed that
judges should only be allowed to decide if a person was guilty
or innocent and that any punishments that needed to be given
should be picked from a pre-approved list.
 This meant that judges could not simply make up whatever
punishment they wanted for a guilty criminal. They now had
to follow the legislature that specifically stated what the
punishment for certain crimes would be, which made it
impossible for any judges who still enjoyed cruel and unusual
punishment to torture people.

12. Traditional Punishment
In terms of traditional punishments, Bamgbose (2010) identified some types of punishment that
existed in traditional times even to pre-colonial Nigeria to a large extent, the kinds of punishments
that existed in traditional societies;
 Slavery
 Banishment
 Excommunication
 Compensation
 Restitution/Restoration
 Corporal Punishment
 Death
 Humiliation and Ridicule
 It is to be noted that some of the traditional punishments have morphed into some recognized
modern punishments

13. Contemporary Punishment
Now in modern times, statutes provide an array of punishments that can be used in
sentencing an offender and these can be corporeal or non-corporeal
 Fines
 Forfeiture/confiscation
 Canning
 Haddi Lashing
 Deportation
 Death Penalty
 Imprisonment
 Community Service
 Probation
 parole
See references for insight into the various types of punishments

14. How Has Crime and Punishment Changed Today?
 The biggest change in how we deal with crimes and criminals today is in the types of
punishments that are legally allowed. We no longer punish criminals as an act of revenge, and we
have, thankfully, done away with torturous punishments, designed to humiliate and inflict pain.
Instead, we now focus more on responding to crime with reform.
 We also don't have public punishments anymore — while public executions and floggings used to
be typical, we now understand that those punishments were less for the sake of rehabilitation
and more a way to publicly humiliate a person. Eventually, punishments for crimes became less
public and more private.
How Crime and Punishment have Changed Today?
 The biggest change in how we deal with crimes and criminals today is in the types of
punishments that are legally allowed. We no longer punish criminals as an act of revenge, and we
have, thankfully, done away with torturous punishments, designed to humiliate and inflict pain.
Instead, we now focus more on responding to crime with reform.
 We also don't have public punishments anymore — while public executions and floggings used to
be typical, we now understand that those punishments were less for the sake of rehabilitation
and more a way to publicly humiliate a person. Eventually, punishments for crimes became less
public and more private.

15. Custodial and Non-Custodial Punishments
 Here, we will separate custodial, from non-custodial
punishments. It is usually custodial punishments which
requires that the convict be locked up in prison thereby
being legally deprived of liberty.
 On the other hand, non-custodial sentence is a criminal
sentence (such as probation) not requiring prison sentence.
 A suspended sentence, in effect, is a form of probation.

16. Arguments For and Against Custodial and Non-Custodial Punishments
 The concept of punishment as being the only possible form of reparation
for serious human rights violations, as a means of satisfying victims, or
even as the victims’ right, is a significant challenge to the traditional
understanding of criminal law.
 It implies ceasing to conceive of criminal law as a tool for social control,
designed originally to protect legal interests for peaceful social
coexistence; rather, seeing it as a mechanism designed for the reparation
of victims’ rights.
 This involves abandoning the idea of criminal law as ius puniendi, as a
right of the state, and instead seeing it as a state obligation, officium
puniendi.

17. Arguments For and Against Custodial Punishments
Arguments for Custodial Sentences
i. It locks criminals up. They are kept away
from ordinary people and cannot commit
crimes
ii. Depriving Freedom- considered to have
victims at the heart, helps achieve closure so
it's fair
iii. House off violent offenders,
iv. Opportunity to rehabilitate offenders
Arguments Against Custodial Sentences
i. Can learn new tricks in prison (graduate to worse
crimes and recidivism
ii. Opportunities after prison are limited
iii. Family breakdown
iv. Prison costs money to maintain
v. Prison conditions are poor
vi. Non violent offenders are put in there
vii. Over crowding of prisons
viii. People put there for short periods of time do not get
to partake in rehabilitation

18. Arguments for and Against Non-Custodial Sentences
Arguments For Non-Custodial Sentences
i. The primary purpose of non-custodial
alternatives to imprisonment is to enable
penal sanctions to be individualized to the
needs of the offender, thereby making the
sanctions more effective
ii. non-custodial sentences are associated
with lower reoffending-Probation and
community orders (including rehabilitation
treatments) showed lower reoffending rates
than custodial sentences
iii. Non-Custodial sentences are cheaper
iv. Flexible- can be tailored to the offender
Arguments against Non-Custodial Sentences
i. There is nothing to stop the offender from
breaking the sentence
ii. Societal outrage that the offender is receiving
a lighter sentence

19. Summary
 Prisons are recommended to be used for the most serious offenders and for
the most serious of crimes.
 Where people are put into prison for short periods of time, they may not
receive any rehabilitation yet they still endure the same after effects as
every other prisoner.
 A downside to custodial sentences is that society does not want to accept
these people back into our society, making it hard for them to get jobs and
sustain themselves.
 This is possibly one of the main reasons that reoffending rates are high.
 Other sentences should always be considered first, unless custody is
proportionate to the offence; murder for example.

20. References
 Dambazau A.B. 2012. Criminology and Criminal Justice, Ibadan: Spectrum
Books
 Siegel L.J. and Worrall, J.L. 2018. Introduction to Criminal Justice (16th ed.)
USA: Cengage Learning