Pros And Cons Of Deterrence Punishment

When an individual breaks a law, it is only logical that he or she must be punished for their wrong-doing. One of the ways to punish a criminal would be through Deterrence, which is a form of punishment that uses the threat of severe consequences to urge individuals not to break the law. While using this approach, society views criminals as logical people who want to avoid these rash penalties. As we all know, not all criminals are logical. Criminals may be in an unstable state of mind, hence why they would commit the crime. This would be a disadvantage to using deterrence as a form of punishment. If all criminals were logical and would weigh out the pros and cons of breaking the law to realize that it is probably not worth committing, this
form of punishment would be golden. Retribution is another approach to dealing with criminals, this is when revenge is the goal of dealing with a criminal. When I think of retribution, I often picture that society treats the criminal as a child with the well-known tactic of "Mom, he hit me so I need to hit him back!" This is just my perspective of the approach. This is the "get even" form of punishment.

The third form of punishment is incapacitation, which is probably the most common form of punishment.
This approach "protects" society from the criminal by imprisoning them or even executing them. With incapacitation, society views criminals as heinous individuals who would be better off being removed temporarily or even permanently from society. The punishment varies from the crime committed. With a more severe offense, the more time you would remain imprisoned and vice versa. The last form of punishment is rehabilitation, this is when the goal of the punishment is to reform the criminal so they will no longer break laws. With this method, society views the criminal as a person who messed up and needs to change their lives. However, I feel that a prominent disadvantage is that not every criminal will or even wants to change their ways. For some, it could be that they do not have the resources to live comfortably and need to break the law to achieve sustainability. For others, it could be more of a mental problem, and that they do not want to change for the better. People with serious mental issues may even lie about their mental status to try and achieve freedom, just to commit another crime. Whether society views criminals as monsters, children, people who just messed up, or even logical individuals, societal views on criminals will almost always be seen as negative, due to the fact that it is a prominent form of deviance in this
world.