Theories of punishment

Crime is an act against the social order and the society has from time immemorial inflicted punishment upon the wrongdoer. Punishment is any form of unpleasant action that is inflicted upon any person who by his own intention commits any act that is against the social and moral order. In order to explain the concept of punishment, various theories have been proposed and they are as follows:-
(1) deterrent theory
In the earlier society, punishments were by and large deterrent in nature, aimed at preventing the likeminded persons from committing the same offence. The functional aspect of this theory was that it instills fear in the mind of people and they avoid committing the same or similar offence.
(2) retributive theory
The retributive theory treats punishment as an end in its own. It is based on the concept of an eye for an eye. It is aimed at satisfying the public vengeance. This theory is now obsolete in the modern democratic setup of States.
(3) preventive theory
The purpose of punishment according to this theory is to safeguard the society from future instances of crime. It seeks to prevent the recurrence of crime by incapacitating the criminal. It found support from the likes of Bentham.
(4) reformative theory
The modern theory of punishment is reformative in nature. It treats the offender as a sick person and crime as an ailment and aims to cure the same. The reformative theory aims at reforming the offender as well as the society. It found amongst its supporters Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave.