Description
Should punishment fit the crime, or should the punishment fit the criminal? Explain.
Explanation & Answer
Strong punishment should fit the crime and not the criminal.
No criminal is a criminal before committing a crime. The crimes committed by a criminal will vary from time to time, both in terms of number and severity. A criminal may start committing more heinous crimes or may start reforming himself/herself and commit minor crimes. The key point is that the severity of crime will keep on varying. This means that a punishment cannot fit the criminal for the criminal is only as good or as bad as the crime he/she commits. In short, the reputation of a criminal is variable. The punishment then should not fit the criminal. This would be like punishing the criminal for his past crimes.
For example, a serial petty theft offender might commit a murder. Now, in this case the punishment ought to be severe. The punishment must be in proportion to the crime committed ie. murder. It should not be that the murderer is given a lenient punishment because he has only committed thefts in the past, which will be the case if the punishment fits the criminal.
Review
Review
24/7 Homework Help
Stuck on a homework question? Our verified tutors can answer all questions, from basic math to advanced rocket science!
Similar Content
Related Tags
The Catcher in the Rye
by J. D. Salinger
Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
Good Kids Bad City
by Kyle Swenson
The Turn of the Screw
by Henry James
Girl Stop Apologizing
by Rachel Hollis
The Hobbit
by J. R. R. Tolkien
Underground A Human History of the Worlds Beneath our Feet
by Will Hunt
Beowulf
by Anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet
The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd