Sentencing Paper
CJS / 200

There is a lot that goes into sentencing and punishment of offenders, including reasons, form of punishment, ways to prevent future punishment for the offenders. There are four philosophical reasons that surround the purpose of sentencing which includes retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. Along with the reasons for sentencing there are the six forms of punishment. These forms include intensive supervision to incarceration. The four philosophical reasons surrounding sentencing are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. The first philosophical reason is retribution, which is the philosophy that a punishment will be determined on the severity of crime committed. Retribution is not the same as revenge and often the overall punishment is not satisfying to any victim(s); with that being stated the retribution philosophy goes by the Old Testament which states “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” The deterrence philosophy is the next reason and has two parts, the general and specific. This philosophy is based on the belief that the criminals will come to the realization that the punishment outweighs the crime, therefore the criminals will be deterred from committing the crime. The first part of this philosophy is the general deterrence, or the theory that by punishing one person for a criminal act will deter other people from committing similar crimes. The specific part of the deterrence philosophy is based on the theory that once a criminal is punished and released he/she will be less likely to commit another crime because he/she will not want to receive another punishment. The third philosophical reason is incapacitation. This philosophy is based on the belief that by placing criminals in jail or prison it will be an effective way to keep the criminal from