Lesson video

Hi, my name's Miss Speakman.

We're on lesson eight of 14 of the crime and punishment unit, and today we'll be looking at aims of punishment, essentially what punishments are there to do.

So in today's lesson, we're going to look about the three aims of punishment, which is retribution, deterrence, and reformation, and we're going to consider Christian, Muslim, and non-religious responses to these aims of punishment.

Let's make sure that we are ready for our lesson first of all please.

Make sure you've got a pen or a pencil, a piece of paper or an exercise book, and a different coloured pen for corrections.

Make sure you've also got a nice clear, quiet working space.

So TV and music off, phone to one side so you're not going to be distracted by notifications, and then of course if you need to get yourself a nice clear space, then please pause the video now.

Get yourself ready and unpause when you're ready to move on.

Okay let's get started with three definitions first of all.

Three very important definitions for our lesson today.

Retribution is to get your own back.

Essentially, matching the severity of the crime committed.

Reformation as an aim of punishment is to change someone's behaviour for the better, to help them learn from their mistakes, and deterrence is to put people off committing crime, whether that's the criminal themself, putting them off re-offending, or a punishment which is a bit more public which then therefore puts other people off committing that crime is what we mean by deterrence.

What I'd like you to do for me please is to pause the video and write down these definitions, then we'll move on to thinking about how effective we think these are, and then Christian and Muslim views on this.

Okay, hopefully you've got those written down, well done.

Let's now move on.

So the first thing I want you to do is not for us to look at the details, but just based on those three definitions only, we're going to spend about three minutes on this question.

Which do you think would be the most effective aim of punishment? If we're looking to help the crime rate go down or we're thinking about how we should treat the offender, the criminal, which one do you think is the most effective? So which one do you think is the best aim of punishment? Write down which one you think is the best aim of punishment, but to make sure you explain your answer.

There's no right or wrong answer, so don't worry about getting it wrong.

Just give it your best go and see if you can explain why you think one of them would be more effective.

Of course you don't have much information yet.

I want this to be just based on what we've looked at so far.

So pause the video, write down your thoughts, unpause when you're ready to move on.

Okay, it will be really interesting to see if you change your mind throughout the lesson.

The more that we learn about it, the more that we look at Christian, Muslim, non-religious views, I wonder whether you'll change your mind.

It's okay if you do, because the more that we delve into all these sorts of things and look at different views, then we do find our own views change and that's absolutely fine.

We're going to start off then with what the purpose of punishment is, just to sort of get really, really clear in our heads.

What is the point of punishment in the first place? Well punishment is in the UK specifically to bring about a positive outcome.

That might be to assist the offender themself, in helping them have a positive outcome after being committed, after committing a crime.

It could be to protect society.

So essentially the purpose of punishment like going to prison may protect society from someone who may be a danger to society in some way.

This is all this idea of trying to support people, but also hopefully to bring about a positive outcome to put people off not committing that crime, which again in turn protects society.

Now punishment in the UK specifically says that yes, it's fine to punish and there should be punishments.

It should be a way of serving justice, but the aim is not to cause unnecessary harm to the offender.

So in some ways, you still treat them as an individual, as a person, a human with dignity.

So the purpose of punishment is to let that person know what they've done is wrong, but not to cause unnecessary harm to them, whether that's physical or mental.

So think about that in terms of retribution, reformation, and deterrence, whether perhaps maybe these hold up to the idea of the purpose of punishment.

We'll start off with retribution then within Christianity and Islam.

Sorry.

So retribution is this idea to get your own back.

Now we have a very similar verse in both Christianity and Islam.

So in Exodus, Christianity says, "life for life," "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand." Now Christians would say that this is sort of, 'cause this is an Old Testament teaching.

Some Christians may say it's a bit of an outdated teaching.

Some Christians may say while it allows retribution, but doesn't demand it, and many Christians say this is not to be taken literally.

So many Christians say that retribution if used as an aim of punishment should be to match the severity of the crime committed and saying that a punishment should look to be as severe as what that person has done.

Not literally saying if you were to kill someone, to take their life, if they were to cut off your hand, you'd cut off their hand.

So you know, if someone commits a very serious crime, they should receive a very serious punishment.

Many Christians would therefore say that the main aim of punishment is not retribution.

They'd say that the Bible teaches about compassion, love, forgiveness over these things and there is actually a teaching of Jesus in which he says, "You've heard it said a life for a life," "an eye for an eye, but I say to you" "if anyone slaps you in the right cheek," "turn to them the other cheek also." This idea of forgiveness, reconciliation, not to match the severity of the crime with the punishment.

So many Christians say Jesus' teachings override this teaching of a life for life, an eye for an eye, which we find in the Old Testament.

So some Christians may say that retribution is an aim of punishment that could be used, but it should never be done to cause unnecessary suffering to the criminal.

Many Christians say actually it's not the main aim of punishment and we'll look at reformation, which they believe perhaps maybe is the main aim of punishment.

In Islam, retribution features heavily.

It says, "And We ordained for them therein" "a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose," "an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth." So it's very similar to the teaching in Exodus.

So the Qur'an is very clear about this and many Muslims would say, well this is reflected in Shari'ah law.

Shari'ah law punishments are heavily influenced.

by this idea of retribution, payback for the severity of the crime committed.

So flogging certain crimes, amputation of the hand for theft, et cetera, or this idea of retribution serving justice.

So Muslims would say from Shari'ah law, retribution is the main aim of punishment, but of course there also has to be some idea of respect for the criminal too in some respect, and that forgiveness is encouraged but not a demand.

Whereas Christians may say that forgiveness is a demand.

What we're going to do is move on to some multiple choice quickfire questions just to go through what we've looked at so far.

I think they're a really, really good way of recapping information, a really good way of realising very, very quickly which bits we do know, which bits we need to go back over.

I will give you a question.

I'll give you two possible answers.

I'll give you a countdown of three seconds, then I want you to say the answer out loud or point to your screen.

We'll go through the answers, then we'll go on and look at some other ideas.

Are you ready for your quickfire questions? Yes is the answer.

Some Christians will believe retribution is supported in scripture.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, true.

Some Christians will say what it says, an eye for an eye.

Retribution is supported in scripture.

All Christians believe retribution should be the main aim of punishment.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is false.

Most Christians would say retribution should not be the main aim of punishment.

Okay, next question.

Only Islam teaches an eye for an eye.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is false.

We find this teaching in both Christianity and Islam.

Forgiveness in Islam is encouraged.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

Forgiveness in Islam is encouraged but not seen as a duty.

Shari'ah law implies retribution is a main aim of punishment within Islam.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

Shari'ah law implies retribution is the main aim of punishment, as Shari'ah law outlines many punishments which are seen as in retribution.

Well done if you got all of those correct.

We're now going to move on to a pause question, just to see what we think of all of this so far.

So I want you to spend about three minutes on this question.

How effective do you think retribution is as an aim of punishment? I want you to explain your answer So based on what we just looked at now, the Christian and Muslim views and perhaps your own views that you had before, how effective do you think retribution is an aim of punishment? Explain your answer.

There's no right or wrong answer.

Just give me your opinion and explain it.

So pause the video now please.

Have a go at writing an answer.

Then we'll move on to reformation as an aim of punishment.

Moving on to reformation now, and we'll look at first what the UK legal system emphasises with reference to reformation.

So the UK legal system does really look to reform criminals.

It believes it's important, but it acknowledges that people have to accept that they've done something wrong.

A criminal can only reform if they say, "actually" "I think I've done something wrong" "and I want to change my behaviour." You can't change someone's behaviour by force.

The UK legal system does try and give people something alongside their prison sentence if they've been sentenced to some time in prison, such as counselling, therapy, education, learning new skills.

It's also very common for the victim or the victim's family to meet with the criminal to try and talk through this idea of what happened and why, and can they forgive each other, et cetera.

So this idea of reformation is quite big within the UK legal system.

Although we punish a criminal by perhaps sentencing them to prison, there is stuff alongside that to help them when they are released from prison not to re-offend and to help build relationships up after the damage has been caused.

Now in Christianity, most Christians would prefer this aim of punishment.

It seems to fit most with the teachings of Jesus, these Christians will argue, this idea of compassion, love, forgiveness.

It mirrors the idea that God was willing to sacrifice his son to forgive humanity's sins and if God is willing to forgive the sins of humanity, which has happened after the fall of Adam and Eve, then Christians should be able to forgive and help criminals for crimes that they've committed.

We also have this within the Lord's Prayer.

As Jesus teachings his disciples the Lord's Prayer and says, "Forgive us our sins," "for we forgive everyone who does us wrong." This idea of saying you should be willing to forgive people even if they've done wrong things to you, because you would hope to be forgiven in those situations as well.

Christianity would be the main aim of punishment.

There are many teachings within the teachings of Jesus which seem to imply that forgiveness, reconciliation, reforming, helping, loving your neighbour, et cetera.

That reformation would be the ideal aim of punishment for a Christian to use.

In Islam, it's less of an emphasis.

An offence within Islam against Shari'ah law, a criminal offence must be forgiven by Allah.

There are some crimes which can only be forgiven by Allah, and although Islam teaches that forgiveness is encouraged, it's not the main aim of punishment.

If reform is going to be part of Islamic thought, it's going to be more to do with the fact that you should be helping someone to reform so that they can submit to Allah, that reform is about helping someone to get back on the straight path.

Not necessarily forgiving them, building relationships personally, but helping that person to learn to submit to Allah properly, 'cause it's only through Allah that they're going to receive forgiveness.

If that person was to truly change their behaviour, they have to show remorse towards Allah, ask for forgiveness, et cetera.

So reformation is less of, less of, less important.

I'm getting my words mixed up today.

Less important within Islam and perhaps is the main aim within Christianity in sort of traditional thought.

So we're going to do some multiple choice quickfire questions again just to see how much we have learnt from this, and then we'll move on to looking at what you think about it and then looking at deterrence as an aim of punishment.

So let's go.

Reformation requires the criminal to admit their behaviour was wrong.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, good it's true.

Reformation can only happen if someone admits what they've done wrong and wants help.

Most Christians would prefer reformation as an aim of punishment.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, good.

That is true, that does seem to be what the majority of Christians would say is the right aim of punishment.

Many Christians believe the Lord's Prayer encourages forgiveness.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, good.

That is true, it does say forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.

Islam does not see reformation as an effective aim of punishment.

Is that true or false? Three, two one, false.

It may be effective in some way, but it is not the main aim of punishment.

So it's about reforming to help them to submit to Allah properly.

So it does have some effect, but it's not the most effective.

Well done if you got those correct.

I think the last one I tried to trick you a little bit, but hopefully you got them all correct.

If you didn't, that's absolutely fine.

What I'm going to get us to do now is to pause and think about our thoughts on this now.

Oh no, hang on, I've missed one.

Extra one, there you go.

Reform in Islam is about learning to submit to Allah.

True or false? Three, two, one, good, true.

Look, bonus question for you, lucky you.

Okay, now let's move on to the bit where I get you to think about your thoughts.

No, what have I done? This is awful isn't it? Reformation is seen as the most effective aim of punishment for many Muslims. Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, it is false.

I think this definitely is the last question now.

I really apologise for making so many mistakes.

It's just one of those days.

So reformation is not seen as the most effective aim of punishment for many Muslims. Retribution and deterrence are going to be the main aims. Now let's get your opinion, let's go.

There you go, got it right this time.

I'm going to appear so that I can talk you through that.

Give me one moment.

There you go, sorry about that.

Sorry I messed up a little bit, but that's absolutely fine.

That's just what happens sometimes.

Three minutes to answer this question.

How effective do you think reformation is as an aim of punishment? I want you to explain your answer.

So again, it's a personal opinion based on this idea of Christianity and Islam, the views, and what we do in the UK as our own legal system, how effective do you think reformation is as an aim of punishment? Explain your answer, pause the video now, three minutes.

Okay, good, brilliant.

So hopefully we are ready now to move on to looking at deterrence as an aim of punishment.

Now deterrence is a punishment that may put others off committing that crime.

So for example, let's say I had a friend who was convicted of drink driving.

Usually when someone is convicted of drink driving, if it's a bad offence they would have their licence taken away for a period of time.

Now I love driving, I love being able to go from one place to the other.

So I know if say my friend, this isn't actually true by the way.

I haven't got a friend who's been convicted of drink driving, but they've been convicted of drink driving.

I've seen they've had their licence taken away.

I've seen the effect that's had.

I'm not going to want to drink drive because I've seen the punishment and I don't want that to happen to me.

So that's a deterrence.

I also just don't want to drink drive anyway 'cause I know it's against the law, but that punishment there is a deterrence.

I don't want that to happen to me, so I don't want to commit that crime.

That's the idea, that a deterrence is an aim of punishment.

In Christianity, the idea is that many Christians say that prison is enough of a deterrence that you don't need to use things such as corporal and capital punishment, so physically harming or the death penalty.

They say this because prison takes away your freedom.

You are taken away from your family and your friends, society for however long your sentence is.

You cannot do everything in the same way you would normally do.

You have to work, if you get to work than you have to work for a very minimum wage and it may be not even any wage.

You can't go out, et cetera.

All those sorts of things may deter someone from wanting to commit a crime because they don't want to go to prison.

Christians say that's enough.

However in Islam, corporal and capital punishment are seen as effective deterrent.

Shari'ah law has a number of punishments using corporal and capital punishment for certain offences which they believe is a good enough deterrent for people to not want to commit crimes.

For example, cutting off the hands of thieves, flogging someone, the death penalty for certain actions.

So Muslims would say it seems to be the case that deterrence would work really well because people won't want their hand cut off.

They won't want to be executed, et cetera.

Some Muslims would say well the crime rate seems to be lower in countries that have Shari'ah law than don't.

So they say that it's sort of backed up.

Deterrence for Muslims seems to be very effective, one of the main aims of punishment.

For Christians, they say that not in terms of corporal capital punishment, but that prison is enough of a deterrence to stop people from committing crime.

So let's do some multiple choice quickfire questions again.

Let's go, this time I'm going to get it right.

I'm going to have exactly the right ones.

I'm not going to give you any extra bonus questions, et cetera.

It'll be fine.

Capital punishment is a deterrence not used in the UK.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, good that's true.

We do not have capital punishment in the UK.

You cannot have the death penalty.

Corporal punishment is a deterrence used in the UK.

True or false? Three, two, one, false.

We cannot be physically harmed as a punishment.

Many Christians believe prison is enough of a deterrence.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, true.

Many Christians say that prison is enough of a deterrence for people committing crimes.

Many Christians believe a criminal does not deserve to be treated with dignity.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, false.

Christians say that prison is enough because it still treats that criminal with dignity.

Shari'ah law uses corporal and capital punishments as deterrents.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true so they could learn from their mistakes.

Corporal and capital punishment would be seen as deterrents.

This idea that physical harming and the death penalty would be seen as deterrents within Shari'ah law.

Most Muslims believe deterrence is a more effective aim of punishment than reformation.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, good, yes.

I'd say that perhaps maybe the crime rate is lower in those countries that have corporal and capital punishment than those that look to reform.

Well done if you got all of those questions correct.

We're now going to move on to your opinion.

So how effective do you think deterrence is as an aim of punishment? I want you to explain your answer.

We'll spend about three minutes on this, so pause the video for me now, please, and then unpause when you're ready to move on.

We'll be looking at some longer questions.

As I said, we're going to move on to a longer question to sort of bring all of this together just to check our understanding.

I want us to explain two religious beliefs about the aims of punishment, referring to scripture or sacred writings in your answer.

Now these explain questions, I'm looking at an exam, style question will be slightly different for each exam, but it's really important that you ask your teacher which exam board you are sitting.

Either if they're available to ask now or to ask them after the lesson, just so you know sort of where to fit it in your own understanding of exam questions.

The question that I've got there above best fits with AQA and Edexcel.

So if you're with AQA or Edexcel, you'll find that this fits really nicely with what you're doing.

You might be expected to write a longer explain question for Edugas and WJEC, which would be sort of adding more information in, and the question style might look a little bit different for OCR.

Sort of bear those things in mind, but regardless of which exam board you're with, this will be a really good way of us recapping information at the very least.

You're going to need to include briefly stating what Christianity believes about one of the aims of punishment, an inclusion of a scripture verse, so one we mentioned earlier.

An explanation then of how this verse shows that belief.

And the paragraph without the verse, the second paragraph, a detailed explanation of a belief on an aim of punishment.

Don't worry though, I'm going to give you a really, really clear structure.

So if you're not sure, if you're sort of panicking a little bit like oh, exam question, it's fine.

I'm going to give you a structure.

It's going to be absolutely fine.

We can work through it together.

There'll be a model afterwards.

You're about to see what it should look like and hopefully you'll feel more confident with them.

So I'm going to disappear so we can do this together.

Now I'm going to get you to pause the video on the next slide to complete your task.

As I said, I'm going to give you a nice structure, so don't worry about getting it wrong or worrying about how it should look.

I'm going to help you.

This is the structure I would like you to use.

I want you to use "Some Christians believe," and then tell me something about what they believe about the aim of punishment.

Then I want you to use The Lord's Prayer supports this when it says, "forgive us our sins," "for we forgive everyone who does us wrong," and tell me what this shows about that aim of punishment.

Then some Muslims believe a more effective aim of punishment is, and you tell me which one they believe is more effective, and tell me why.

So you say, "This is because.

." I'd like you to pause the video please and I would like you then to complete this.

Give it your best go even if you're not sure because we will go through the answers together, but it's always best to have a go first.

Pause the video, have a go, unpause when you're ready to move on.

Okay, if you can see this slide I'm assuming you're ready for corrections and you've finished writing your answer.

Please have a different coloured pen out for when you're ready for corrections.

If you need to go back and finish off your answer, then that's absolutely fine.

Just rewind and pause again, and then come back to us when you're ready for corrections.

So here's my model answer.

Some Christians believe the best aim of punishment is to reform the criminal to change their behaviour.

The Lord's Prayer supports this when it says, "forgive us our sins for we forgive" "everyone who does us wrong." This shows that they may respond with compassion to criminals as they believe God is compassionate to them who also sin and break his laws.

They would see punishment helps the criminal become a positive member of society.

Some Muslims believe a more effective aim of punishment is retribution, which allows a victim or family of a victim to have compensation for a crime committed.

This is because the Qur'an prescribes these as the preferred punishment for forgivable and unforgivable crimes.

If you need to make any corrections, then you can do that for me now.

Yours doesn't have to be word for word like mine.

You could've written something very different and be absolutely correct, but you might find some of these things helpful to add in.

So pause the video now if you want to make any corrections.

Unpause when you are ready to move on and we'll look at non-religious views on the different aims of punishment.

So I'm just going to appear.

Where am I? There I am.

Okay, so non-religious views on the aims of punishment.

There's going to be a huge range of different ideas about the aims of punishment within non-religious groups because there are many different non-religious groups, many different ways that people might identify themselves as non-religious.

So secular, atheist, agnostic, lots of different ideas but even within them we have ethical theories like utilitarianism, et cetera.

We'll focus on utilitarianism because I think it's a good one to be able to use and talk about.

The greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Those who follow utilitarianism would say the right action is the action which causes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

You might ask well what does this look like for the aims of punishment? I think this is the idea that even within utilitarianism there'll be lots of different views.

We're looking for the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

What's going to produce the best outcomes? Some people who follow utilitarianism might argue reformation helps not only the society.

That person can then benefit society when they get out of prison, et cetera.

But also it will benefit the offender themselves.

They're changing their behaviour which will have a positive outcome on society.

Many of them might say that retribution and deterrence, especially retribution, does bring some form of justice, but it doesn't necessarily change that person's behaviour and therefor may not be as effective as reformation.

Many people, non-religious people, utilitarianism might say well, deterrence might work with things like prison because it might put people off, but it also treats that person with dignity, but may not be so happy with ideas such as corporal punishment.

But you may find some people who follow utilitarianism who would say that the death penalty as a deterrence works very well, but we might also look at statistics that say the countries with the death penalty, re-offending rates are actually higher.

Sorry, than those who don't have it.

It can be used for a range of different views really, but I think the main sort of non-religious views within utilitarianism would be that reformation seems to be the most effective aim of punishment because it benefits both the society and the offender.

What we're going to do just to finish off is I'm going to get us to do some multiple choice quickfire questions, a little bit different.

There will be three options.

I'm going to give you a statement and I need you to decide whether you think it's talking about reformation, retribution, or deterrence, okay? Then that will finish off our lesson.

Then I'll give you a goodbye, then you can go away and think, "Wow, I've learnt so much today." So are we ready? Criminals should receive the same injuries or damage as they cause by their crime.

Which aim of punishment is this? Retribution, reformation, deterrence? Three, two, one.

Good, it's retribution.

Which aim of punishment says that law breakers should realise the wrong they have done in order to become a positive member of society? Three, two, one.

Good, it's reformation.

Which aim of punishment says the threat of punishment should be sufficient to put others off committing the same crime? Three, two, one.

Good, it's deterrence.

Which aim of punishment says an offence must be forgiven by Allah in order for an offender to be purified and set free from condemnation by society? Three, two, one.

Good, it's reformation.

Which aim of punishment says society can learn from punishments given to offenders, especially if the punishment is carried out in public.

Three, two, one.

Good, it's deterrence.

Punishment should be an example of compassionate response.

Three, two, one.

Good, it's reformation.

Once a guilty verdict is established beyond all doubt, the punishment is given on behalf of the victim and society.

If the victim's family pardon's the offender, they will escape the death penalty.

Three, two, one.

Good, it's retribution.

So essentially this is done to sort of get back for the victim and society.

Community service should help the offender to contribute to society in a positive way.

Three, two, one.

Good, reformation.

A punishment should be severe enough to match the seriousness of the crime committed.

Three, two, one.

Good, retribution.

Humans should be treated with respect and compassion whatever they have done.

Three, two, one.

Good, reformation.

Well done if you got all of those correct.

We'll now say thank you and think about how much we've learnt today.

Let's wait for me to appear.

There we go.

So hopefully you found that really useful at the end because I used very different wording which hopefully gets you to think a bit more about what each of those aims of punishment are.

Well done for working so, so hard today in our lesson on the aims of punishment.

I hope you've really enjoyed it and I hope to see you again soon.

Thank you, goodbye.