Theories of Punishment — the ⭐⭐⭐ Essay — KSLU Jurisprudence Notes

Theories of Punishment — the ⭐⭐⭐ Essay

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    ROOT["Theories of Punishment"]:::root
    ROOT --> A["Deterrent<br/>(exemplary fear —<br/>Bentham)"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> B["Retributive<br/>(just deserts —<br/>an eye for an eye)"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> C["Preventive<br/>(disable the offender —<br/>imprisonment, disqualification)"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> D["Reformative<br/>(cure, not kill —<br/>probation, juvenile justice)"]:::leaf
    ROOT --> E["Expiatory / compensatory<br/>(atonement; victim<br/>compensation)"]:::leaf

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1. Deterrent — punishment as a public example so that others fear to offend (Bentham’s utilitarian arithmetic). The Supreme Court has invoked deterrence for crimes shaking social order, while warning that severity without certainty deters nothing.
2. Retributive — the offender deserves suffering proportionate to the wrong; it dignifies the criminal as a responsible agent but, taken alone, is institutionalised vengeance.
3. Preventive — disable the offender from repeating: imprisonment, cancellation of licence, forfeiture, in the extreme the death penalty.
4. Reformative — crime is a disease; the sentence should cure. It drives India’s probation, parole and juvenile systems — “every saint has a past, every sinner a future.” Its limit: hardened and white-collar offenders, where reform talk becomes leniency.
5. The modern synthesis the examiner wants: no single theory suffices; Indian sentencing blends them — deterrence for heinous crime (Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, 1980 — death only in the “rarest of rare”), reformation as the default for the young and first-time offender.