Philosophical approaches to punishment across historical and contemporary periods

¶ … Philosophy Crime Punishment Shifted

Social Context and the Justification of Punishment

Punishment is an authoritative exercise aimed to impose a negative or unwanted response to a behavior considered wrong or unjust by an individual or group. Philosophies surrounding crime and their punishment have changed between centuries, and even decades, to reflect the societies in which they occur. The legal mandate of punishment enforces a source of pain or deprivation to place suffering on the convicted individual, and is an action not morally matched by all citizens. The justification of punishment shares a unique relationship with social context, particularly in the legal sense. Over the course of history, society's beliefs about crime have translated into specific policies. This is exemplified by the present "get tough on crime" belief that has weaved its way into punishment policies in modern correctional systems. Although not all citizens within a specific society may not share similar views regarding punishment, the beliefs of society's majority directly influences punishment policy.

Crime is an inevitable aspect of human existence. Moral crimes, legal crimes, petty crimes, and their severity are all encompassed within an "eye of the beholder" point-of-view. One person may deem stealing as equally wrong as murder (or equally forgivable), while others make distinctions between crimes, their intentions, and their rightful punishment. The historical course of punishment reflects social context. One shift that has occurred in punishment over the centuries is the reduction of punishment from public display. Prisoners, convicts, or even suspected criminals are no longer left in the gallows as a centerpiece in the public square. Evidence of punishment and the punished are now concealed behind prison walls, cells, and reformatories (Garland, 1993, p. 234). In Medieval times, offenders were left in stocks as a form of public humiliation, which was considered an appropriate punishment within the realm of their social context. In the present, confidentiality laws and practices are a testament to the removal of punishment from public knowledge and display.

The present day "get tough on crime" philosophy has greatly contributed to the policies and punishments currently emphasized in the correctional system. Since the early 1980s, mandatory prison sentences directed at persons committing violent crimes, using weapons, and repeat offenders has caused a drastic shift in the execution of punishment. In 1971 there were fewer than 200,000 inmates in state and federal prisons in the United States. Twenty-five years later, in 1996, the number of prison inmates nearly sextupled, reaching almost 1.2 million (Currie, 1998, p. 12). This rapid increase in the prison population is not a result of an increase in crime, but is a result of courts and legislatures getting "tougher" on offenders. Crime itself had not changed, only its social context and consequent legal policies. The presence of prisons within the correctional system exposes the implementation of mass incarceration as a government social program. The operational procedures of the correction system have shifted to accommodate this major influx in prisoners and to support government policies of mandatory prison sentences.

Another major source for the increased prison population is the proclaimed "war on drugs" arising from the 1970s and 1980s, and is an arm of the "get tough on crime" philosophy. As the drug problem and addiction became more prevalent in the U.S., legislative officials created punishment policies for drug dealers, and those in the possession of drugs. This is another example of social context forming punishment policy. In 1991, more than 150,000 drug offenders were in prison, with 84% of that population having no prior incarceration for violent crimes, and 50% of the population having no prior incarcerations at all (Lynch, & Sabol, 1997). The acceptance of certain crimes is subject to change as a result of changing societal views.