In our time, retaliation has ceased to play the role of a basis of justice, as it was, for example, in the Middle Ages. It was then customary to repay for sins, chop off hands and commit other acts of self-mutilation in the name of retribution. Today, the idea of preventive surveillance and rehabilitation measures is more popular. Although, of course, it would be wrong to speak exclusively about the educational function of criminal law. You must admit that some maniacs and killers are corrected even before the decision of the conviction. In this case, according to some liberal-minded forensics, there is no reason to put them in jail for the remaining years of life. However, just Themis in the vast majority of cases chooses the punishment. True, in some cases conditional punishment is applied.
Crime and punishment
If we talk about punishment in criminal law, then prisons usually come to mind. However, this is too lightweight statement. So, a crime is understood in modern criminal law as a socially dangerous act, the commission of which entails certain legal consequences on the part of the state as an institution for regulating the life of society. In the most general sense, a criminal act is a specific form of delinquent (asocial) human behavior. The main sign of a crime is the guilty attitude of a person towards him, that is, an awareness of the wrongfulness or the possibility of such an awareness.
Modern criminal law punishment is usually considered in several aspects. Administrative liability provides for a maximum of short arrest. But in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, punishment takes a separate chapter. And this is no coincidence, since behind the dry statistics are hidden human destinies.
Punishment is ...
Ever since ancient times, mankind has understood that for an offense it is worth exposing a guilty person to negative influence. The very concept of punishment was officially introduced several centuries ago. However, it existed from the beginning of the formation of states as institutions of coercion to enforce orders and laws. First of all, punishment is a kind of measure applied to a guilty person for committing a certain act. As mentioned above, earlier it was an act of retaliation, now they are increasingly resorting to it for educational purposes. Rehabilitation measures in this case involve not only a direct impact on the person who committed the crime, but also a demonstration to others that the commission of a certain act will necessarily be followed by an adequate reaction from the state.
In addition, some scientists consider responsibility measures as the basis for the formation of a strictly defined model of behavior both for a specific individual and for society as a whole. Therefore, serving a sentence involves the commission of a criminal act. This is the basis of the whole science of criminal law.
It is noteworthy that in modern science distinguish between positive punishment and negative. The first type is the impact on the individual. For example, a person who has committed a robbery is deprived of liberty for a certain period. An example of negative punishment is the elimination of a factor. For example, a child who is out of control is deprived of sweets.
Nevertheless, the application of punishment is still a necessary measure. Extremely serious misconduct appears in criminal law, for which it is simply necessary to hold accountable.
It is noteworthy that in this industry the punishment serves, first of all, for the implementation of criminal liability measures. In this case, we are talking about achieving one of the most important goals of criminal law, namely, ensuring the safety of people's lives in society. However, this is only one of the immediate tasks of the system.
Penitentiary Service
This is an independent federal body related to the executive branch. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Justice. This is a truly independent structure. The central apparatus of the Federal Penitentiary Service has eighteen departments that exercise their powers in all main areas of the service.
The Ministry of Justice performs a set of law enforcement functions, and also exercises control and supervision in the sphere of execution in relation to convicted criminal punishments and so on. It is this federal body that is responsible for bringing convictions to life; it was created to carry out criminal liability measures.
Goals of punishment
Today, liability measures are established by judges everywhere. One should not think that the purpose of punishment is exclusively punishment for a committed socially dangerous act. Still, it would be too simple and too straightforward. In fact, the entire system of punishment is based on certain principles, among which there is no room for simple retribution. Everything is much more complicated. The task of criminal law, among other things, is the adequate execution of sentences.
If we talk about punishment or retaliation, then a few centuries ago it was practically established that this is a fairly primitive concept. Moreover, the reckoning itself does not consolidate society in any way, does not affect its normal development, does not eradicate crime in general, and does not correct people who have committed an illegal act in their life. It’s just exactly the opposite: the punitive system tempers the attacker even more, embitters him, a person collapses all ties with society, any hope of some kind of rehabilitation or new life is lost. Agree, this is a dead end path that leads to the formation of large criminal gangs, the separation of the people and an increase in the number of illegal acts in general. The principle of talion, which involves retaliation for the crime committed, is morally outdated and must be completely eradicated. Nevertheless, despite the fact that criminal law has long departed from this provision, some of its elements continue to exist.
Nevertheless, today the main goal of criminal liability is to correct the convicted person. Of course, the system of punishments is currently sufficiently directed towards the implementation of this task, but in practice, not all criminals begin a new life. A large part of the former prisoners still return "to the slippery slope", although it is perhaps not the totality of measures to implement criminal responsibility that is to blame, but the socialization program of yesterday's criminals.
Yes, and some of the offenders still corrected. That is why the goal of rehabilitation can be considered achieved. There are people who will never return to the path of crime, and their release from punishment will be seen as a chance to start a radically new life.
Special prevention
The goals of criminal law are many. The essence of punishment is, first of all, the protection of foundations. To date, they also single out the task of special prevention. It consists in preventing the commission of crimes. This is achieved by isolating a citizen who has previously committed a socially dangerous act. That is, the individual will not be able to actually harm society again, he is fenced off from everyone.
In addition to isolation, capital punishment, life imprisonment and other measures are also used in some countries. In certain states, castration is common for people who have committed sex offenses.
But not all types of special prevention are self-mutilation or social exclusion. This also includes the deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in any activity. Thus, the company gets rid of unskilled performers who are dismissive or negligent in the implementation of their duties.
Agree, today the role of punishment as a measure of retaliation / weapon of punishment is minimal, but sometimes it still persists. For example, in the case of the death penalty, this is simply obvious. Although some countries have introduced a special moratorium on this measure. However, in most cases, they did this in order to minimize the consequences of a possible miscarriage of justice, from which no society and no legal system are insured.
General prevention
The objectives of criminal law do not end there. Also the task of punishment is the so-called general prevention. It is achieved by intimidation. A potential attacker who knows that if the crime is solved he faces the maximum imprisonment or even the death penalty, is simply afraid to commit illegal acts. This is a fairly effective measure, since a huge part of latent offenders never take the “slippery slope”, logically preferring to remain at large. This goal is achieved using effective methods of capturing criminals and detecting an act. If complete lawlessness reigns in society and the legal life of the state, there can be no talk of any humility or fear of condemnation.
In addition, the goal of general prevention is the timely and high-quality informing the society about the crimes committed, as well as about the punishment measures that have been applied to the villains. The state should pursue a quality information policy that creates a negative image of the offender, expresses an implacable and sharply negative attitude to the offenses committed.
However, contrary to the opinion of supporters of toughening penalties, excessively intolerant and really cruel, unfair methods only professionalize crime. In addition, the image of the unfortunate villain who is illegally and unfairly punished is being developed in society. Thus, when approaching the realization of the goal of general prevention, certain restrictions must be observed. Only in this case, its application will really give positive results. That is why it is proposed to pay attention not to the severity of the punishment, but to its inevitability. That is, the smaller the number of people who manage to avoid responsibility, the correspondingly higher the effectiveness of the so-called general prevention.
Classification of punishments
Today, there are several of the most common classifications of criminal liability measures. And in this, the execution of punishment reveals its essence. So, they highlight the main measures, as well as additional ones. Certain legal systems have their own subtleties and nuances. However, usually the main ones are those that can be used exclusively by themselves and are not used, for example, to enhance a certain effect of other penalties. Additional liability in itself does not apply. It is used only in conjunction with basic measures to enhance their effect.
In addition, there are general and special types of responsibility. Their differences are that special types of punishment can be applied only to certain sections of the population or social structures.
Other ways to exercise responsibility are also distinguished: property, which include fines or confiscation of property; punishments related to deprivation of liberty, as well as to the labor activity of the individual. As you can see, there are a huge number of them.
It is noteworthy that already in the process of conviction a sanction can be replaced by other types, the measure can be reduced, conditional punishment is admissible. Of course, all this happens solely by court order. Also, the perpetrator may be “granted” exemption from liability.
Types of punishment
Since ancient times, people have tried to punish their offenders. Responsibilities for offenders came up with a variety of different. Many of them have not reached the present, however, some penalties have been preserved and entrenched not only in everyday life, but also in legal documents. Of course, the most famous such legal document is the Criminal Code.
The mildest punishment is considered to be a fine. And its execution in this case does not present any problem. Roughly speaking, a person is punished with a ruble for his misconduct.
A fine is one of the most ancient types of liability. It is used in modern criminal law by the vast majority of states and, as a rule, is assigned for offenses of relatively low gravity (in particular, economic ones). A fine can also be used as an additional measure to the main penalty. In principle, this most often happens, since its independent use gives a doubtful effect. Thus, the collection of a fine from the offender himself in many cases is practically impossible due to the lack of sufficient sum to pay the penalty. It is also noteworthy that the imposition of a monetary penalty in itself may well entail the commission of a new crime, because the attacker needs to get funds somewhere to pay off the fine.
Modern penalties also include forced labor, when the convicted person is forced to perform compulsory labor. Decades ago, penal servitude was widely used in criminal law, but today this method has been abandoned. According to modern research, forced labor has a good effect on the correction of a convicted person. In general, the work has a beneficial effect on his future employment. A person is accustomed to organized activities and educated in everyday life.
Punishment - Imprisonment
However, not all measures of criminal responsibility are so lenient. Today, as a rule, people are deprived of their liberty for serious crimes. This is the compulsory placement of the convicted person in a certain special institution, where he is subsequently isolated from society and controlled over his behavior. Among other things, other methods of educational influence are applied to a person. Based on the court order, a measure of conditional punishment may be used. This often happens in practice.
Today, a sentence of imprisonment is imposed for a number of serious property crimes, acts against sexual freedom and life. That is, it is appointed for those misconduct that cause serious harm to public relations.
Today, there are various types of deprivation of liberty, which are classified depending on the term of imprisonment, the places where the sentence is served, and the conditions of detention.
Restrict the freedom of the offender, as a rule, only in exceptional cases. It should be noted that these processes are fully controlled by the Federal Penitentiary Service, which was discussed above.
Measures that are no longer applied
Today not only hard labor, but also some other types of criminal coercion is not used in practice. In particular, a few decades ago, link or exile were widely used. By the way, there were worse measures. Link - this is the removal of the offender from his place of residence with mandatory settlement in a particular area on an ongoing basis. Exile is a ban on living in a certain place (city or state) under pain of the death penalty or prison.
Among other things, today corporal punishment is not applied at all, at least in the whole civilized world. These measures represent one of the most ancient methods of implementing criminal liability. Corporal punishment consisted in causing the criminal physical pain or injury. The use of this measure is prohibited by numerous international conventions.
To summarize
Of course, now society is not at such a stage of its development when the use of various types of punishment is inappropriate. Still, crime cannot be eradicated in any way. True, the educational goals of criminal responsibility are somehow being achieved. Ideally, humanity should do without any punishment at all. However, these prospects are rather vague.
As can be seen from the foregoing, the punishment of the Criminal Code provides for different things, depending on the severity of the committed act, as well as on many other factors, on which the measure of responsibility depends. Not only that, the types of responsibility do not change, but adjustments are often made on time. Thus, there is an increasing individualization of response measures. , , .
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In any case, at the present stage, painstaking work should be carried out aimed at studying crime and its further eradication. Then the institution of punishment will completely outlive itself in the future, and there will no longer be any need to impose criminal liability measures. Already at the legislative level, certain amendments can be adopted aimed at the socialization and effective rehabilitation of criminals. This will be the first step towards eradicating latent crime and preventing further commission of crimes by persons previously convicted. Exemption from punishment should be more often practiced. Only then can we talk about a truly healthy society, where each individual has his own value, where the former offender is important, and they seek to rehabilitate him as much as possible in the future, in order to prevent more misconduct on his part. In general, it is worth striving to build a society where there will be no punishment.