Justify Punishment in Modern Society Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Justify Punishment in Modern Society - Assignment Example The other just has to do with punishing a person who has committed a crime, leaving a victim who seeks retribution. 2. Although the saying â€Å"crime does not pay† is widely popular, I would have to disagree with this statement. The connotation of this saying is that a criminal will always get caught. However, the police department is swamped with unsolved and cold cases. Our judicial system also finds itself often foiled by a technicality that often sets a criminal free. There are many ways and means that a criminal can get out of the accusations provided he has a good lawyer who knows how to find and work loopholes in the law. That is why I cannot agree with this statement. 3. The Quakers were of the idea that criminals could be reformed if they were imprisoned in a building that looked blank and lifeless upon their entrance. The Quakers strongly believed that in a place where a solitary, and sad existence was the way of life for the prisoner, he would have time to reflect upon his crimes which would, in turn, make him penitent and convince him to reform his ways upon leaving the penitentiary. To correctly quote the Quaker policy on solitary confinement; No prisoner is seen by another after he enters the wall. When the years of confinement have passed, his old associates in crime will be scattered over the earth, or in the grave and the prisoner can go forth into a new and industrious life, where his previous misdeeds are unknown. (Walsh, â€Å"Black Hoods and Iron Gags†) The end result of this Quaker experiment? Most of the inmates either went insane or died after a few months. That is why the penitentiary saw itself being reformed by 1903 to become more humane in the treatment of the inmates. 4.The issues of social class, gender, age, and victim characteristics are often pointed to as having a tremendous influence on the jury and judge when it comes to sentencing the guilty party. However, aside from juvenile related crimes, social class, and gender are not really considered by the judge when sentencing the guilty party because those are not part of the official lawful criteria to be considered in the sentencing of a guilty party. Instead, the extent of the guilt of the person based upon the gravity of the offense and victim characteristics, cruelty of the offender, circumstances of the case, number of offenses the guilty party has committed, and whether he was the main offender or accessory all play a role in determining the sentence of the guilty party.