+

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF PUNISHMENT IN CRIMINAL LAW?

+ JACK THE RIPPER!

Police Constable John Neil found the body whilst walking his beat. From the light of his lantern, he saw that blood was oozing from her throat which had been slashed from ear to ear. Her eyes were wide open. Even though her hands and wrists were cold, Neil felt warmth in her arms.

+ JACK THE RIPPER!

The wounds to the victims throat had been fatal. Since parts of her body were still warm, a local doctor felt she had been dead no longer than half-an-hour. Her neck had been slashed twice, cutting through her windpipe. She had been killed where she was found, but there was very little blood on the ground. Most of the lost blood had soaked into her clothing. The body was taken to the local mortuary, which was part of the workhouse there. When the body was stripped, Inspector Spratling discovered that her abdomen had been mutilated.

+ JACK THE RIPPER!

For discussion in pairs: What are your immediate thoughts about how Jack should have been punished if he had been caught? If you opt for the death penalty how would your decision be affected if modern DNA profiling showed the wrong man had been killed? If imprisoned, should he have ever been let out? If he were not mentally responsible for his action should he have been sent to a mental hospital rather than a prison?

+ AIMS OF PUNISHMENT
Here

are some possible aims of punishment. What do each mean?

RETRIBUTION REPARATION PUBLIC PROTECTION REHABILITATION DETERRENCE Should offenders doing community service be identified?

+ AIMS OF PUNISHMENT

RETRIBUTION
This

is the idea of an eye for an eye, revenge for the victim

Timothy Mc Veigh killed 168 people when he bombed the federal government building in Oklahoma City in 1993. He was put to death in 2001

The families of the victims watched McVeighs death through a satellite link.
Do you think this is something that should happen?

+ AIMS OF PUNISHMENT

REPARATION
This

is idea that the guilty person should compensate the victim/society for his wrongdoing

+ AIMS OF PUNISHMENT

PUBLIC PROTECTION

The aim of punishment is to protect the public, however unfair on an individual wrongdoer

Sometimes, the Judge believes that the offender is very likely to commit another crime and so must put them in jail to protect the public. There are approx. 36 people in prison in the UK who will never be released. Rosemary West is one of them.

+ AIMS OF PUNISHMENT

REHABILITATION
This

is the idea that punishment must aim to ensure that the guilty person can fit into society at the end of their punishment
seeks to ensure they understand the error in their act.

Also

+ AIMS OF PUNISHMENT

REHABILITATION
The

key aim in sentencing young offenders is to rehabilitate them

The

killers of Jamie Bulger served 9 years in a young offenders institute and were given new identities on release.
you think this is right? Does this have to be done in order that they are rehabilitated?

Do

+ AIMS OF PUNISHMENT

DETERRENCE
This

is the idea that punishment must put the offender, and other potential offenders off reoffending

+ PUNISHMENTS
In pairs discuss which aims the following punishments belong to:

Hanging

Prison
Community Service Fines

+ A Model Prison
The class needs to be divided into 5 groups
One

group will be a panel deciding which bid to accept

The

other groups will be private companies bidding for the contract for a new model prison for violent teenage offenders

Young offenders in Feltham Young Offenders Institution are 18 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population

+ A Model Prison
The amount of money awarded is very generous. The contract will be awarded to the group with the best ideas on:

1. Which

are the principal aims you are trying to achieve

2. Day-to-day 3. What

life in the prison (how a typical inmate will spend their day, and why)
each cell (if such things exist?) will look like

4. Punishment 5. Minimising 6. Minimising

for inmates who misbehave and incentives for those who dont the bullying/suicide rate possibility of reoffending on release