What's the point of punishment?

[NJOK]

Carrying on from another thread, people seem to have very different views on which punishments are suitable for different crimes. Some think that we're far too liberal and that criminals are mollycoddled (while the victims are forgotten about), others think we're turning into a of pitchfork-wielding angry mob that wants to see all criminals killed or deported.

I'm interested to know what people think is the purpose of punishment? Not just for murder - for any crime. What is punishment for? What are we trying to achieve when we punish someone?

[samuel23]

As far as I am concerned, punishment has several functions.
Firstly - it's to make the offender realise that what they did was wrong.
Second - its to safeguard society from further acts by the miscreant.
Third - it's to show the victim that society understands they have been wronged.

Thats my very simplistic view and there are loads of other functions for punishment.

[warpig1]

I think the problem is that sometimes the punishment doesn't appear to fit the crime, either too lenient, or too severe.

[Supernick]

I suppose that punishment primarily exists so that we can maintain the order and rules that we deem important to our society. Punishment is there to enforce the importance of these rules, and to prevent us falling into anarchy.

[Oneeyedvic]

"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
- Plato (427-347 B.C.)

True then and true now.

[willowman]

Just a thought -
Some people advocate bringing back the death penalty to stem the rising tide of murders, but.....
In countries where hands are chopped off for stealing, people still steal.
In countries where women are stoned to death for committing adultery, women still commit adultery.
Some people will not offend because they are afraid of the consequences, others offend because they do not believe they will be caught.
The treat of punishment is only a deterrent if detection is a certainty.

[samuel23]

Willowman has summed the issue up very nicely in his last sentence ~ all the while the police are under-resourced and have to spend most of their time concentrating on hammering the poor bl00dy motorist the crime rate will go up. This is because the chances of the burgalar/mugger/pick-pocket/murderer/rapist actually being caught is getting slimmer every year.
Crime has been with us since the dawn of time. There will always be people who want what others have and those that think they can live their life however they choose, without regard for other peoples safety, feelings or property.
The sooner we realise that we need to force the government to provide more effective policing and fewer pathetic, pro-criminal rights the better.