Crime and punishmentWhat are the aims of punishment?
Crime is a reality in every society. Hinduism teaches that actions in this life will directly affect experiences in future existences and that negative actions will lead to karmic debt.
Often the aims of a punishment overlap, eg sending people to prison aims to deterTo put someone off doing something. people from committing similar crimes and it aims to protect the public from the individual who is guilty of the crime. Here are four recognised aims of punishment:
deterrence - punishment that aims to put people off committing crime
reformation - punishment that aims to reformTo make changes to something or someone, for improvement. the criminal
retribution - punishment that aims to make the criminal pay for what they have done wrong
justice - the aim is to ensure that the right and fair thing is done