Ch. 1: The Purposes of Criminal Punishment

Question 1

three fundamental questions regarding the purposes of criminal punishment

Answer 1

1) what is the relationship between civil and criminal liability?
2) what defenses to criminal liability should be recognized?
3) how much will a particular sentence contribute to the purposes of criminal punishment compared to alternatives?

Question 2

utilitarianism

Answer 2

• school of thought that focuses upon the future consequences of criminal punishment
• a punishment is justified if it does better than alternatives in producing future happiness or utility
• derived from the work of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill

Question 3

four potential benefits of criminal punishment

Answer 3

1) specific deterrence
2) general deterrence
3) incapacitation
4) rehabilitation
* taken into consideration by utilitarians

Question 4

specific deterrence

Answer 4

deters the punished offender from committing criminal acts in the future

Question 5

general deterrence

Answer 5

a punishment’s effect of deterring not the offender himself but rather others who are similarly situated from committing the same or similar criminal acts in the future

Question 6

incapacitation

Answer 6

the effect of imprisonment or execution of removing the offender from society, thereby preventing him from committing offenses

Question 7

rehabilitation

Answer 7

a punishment’s possible effect of reforming the offender so that he does not commit future offenses

Question 8

utilitarian manner of determining a criminal punishment

Answer 8

by weighing the potential benefits of a punishment against its costs, and then comparing that cost-benefit analysis to those of alternative punishments

Question 9

retributivism

Answer 9

• a theory of criminal punishment that views the purposes of criminal punishment in terms of a notion of justice that is largely, if not entirely, independent of future consequences
• criminal punishment is justified if the offender deserves the punishment as a matter of rational judgment
• derived from the moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant, the bedrock of which is respect for the rational autonomy of the individual
• one’s rational autonomy may not be compromised or restricted in the name of promoting the social good