Lesson video

Hi, I'm Miss Speakman.

Welcome to our lesson nine of 14 of the criminal punishment unit.

And today we'll be looking at attitudes to the treatment of criminals.

So on the agenda for today, we will be considering how criminals should be punished with reference to prison, community service and corporal punishment.

And look at Christian, Muslim and non-religious views on these types of punishment.

First thing, there's a need to make sure we're ready for our lessons.

So a pen or a piece of paper.

A pen or a pencil, piece of paper or an exercise book and a different coloured pen ready for corrections.

We also need to make sure you're in a nice, clear, quiet working space.

So TV music off, phone to one side to minimise distractions, perhaps if you've got a nice clear desk space to work out or quiet space away from people, so you can concentrate.

If you need to get yourself ready by pausing the video, please do so now get yourself ready and unpause when we're ready to start learning.

Okay, brilliant, let's move on.

But first, we will recap to see the different aims of punishment, 'cause this will be so important when we're looking at prison community services and corporal punishment today.

So first of all, we had the idea of a retribution, this idea of payback for something that someone has done to you.

So the idea of the punishment should match the severity of the crime committed.

This could be for example, cutting off the hands of thieves, which Sharia law says is the punishment for theft, essentially getting payback, getting your own back.

Deterrence is all about putting someone off, committing a crime.

So the punishment is of a certain severity where someone sees it and goes, I don't want to commit that crime because I don't want that punishment.

And reformation is about changing someone's behaviour for the better.

So helping them to realise that what they've done is wrong, help them to accept that and then helping them to change that behaviour.

What I'd like you to do, so that you've got a nice and clearly before we move on, is I want us to pause and I want you to try and write your own definition based on that recap and based on your knowledge of retribution, deterrence and reformation.

So I'm going to disappears so that you can do that.

And as I said, I'd like you to complete the following questions by spending about four minutes on it.

So you should write out in your own words, a definition for three aims of punishment.

So retribution, deterrence, reformation write out your own definition, then I'll give you my definitions and we can add to them if you think you would like to.

So pause the video now please and then unpause when you're ready to move on and look at the answers.

Okay, here's mine.

So retribution is to pay back the same level for the crime committed.

Deterrence is to put people off committing crime and reformation is to change a criminal's behaviour for the better.

These are literally just ones that I know of my own knowledge of retribution, deterrence and reformation.

I've just written these down so I've typed them off.

So we're going to pause the video please if you're about to make any corrections then unpause when you are ready and we're going to do some multiple choice quick-fire questions.

Okay, let's have some multiple choice quick-fire questions.

What these will do is essentially tests you on some key knowledge, I will give you a question, there'll be two possible answers.

I'll give you a countdown of three seconds, then you point to the screen or say out loud, which one you believe is the correct answer, we'll go through them, lets go.

Many Christians would say reformation is the most effective aim of punishment.

Is that true or false? Three, two, one, say or point your screen.

That is true.

Many Christians say reformation is the most effective aim of punishment.

The teaching "an eye for an eye" can be found within the Bible.

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

Good, that is true.

We do find the teaching within the Bible in Exodus, the Old Testament.

Many Christians say retribution and deterrence is the main aim of punishment.

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

Many Christians say reformation is the main aim of punishment.

Many Christians will say Jesus preached about retribution as the main aim of punishment.

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

Many Christians say Jesus preached about reformation.

Many Muslims are likely to favour reformation as an aim of punishment.

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

Many Muslims are likely to favour other types.

Sharia law suggests retribution and deterrence are preferred aims of punishments.

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

Good, that is true.

Sharia law is heavily influenced by these ideas of retribution and deterrence.

Many Muslims would say reformation is about helping someone to submit to Allah.

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

So if there is any sort of emphasis on reformation, it's about helping that person learn how to submit to Allah rather than you personally changing their behaviours.

We're now going to move on to looking at Christian, Muslim and non-religious views on the different types of punishment like prison, a corporal punishment and community service.

The first type of punishment are going to look at is prison.

So prison is for those who commit serious crimes.

So depending on how serious the crime is, depends on how long someone will be imprisoned for.

Now the idea of prison is that as a punishment it takes away someone's freedom.

They cannot leave the prison, they cannot leave the cell until a certain times of the day.

They will perhaps maybe, be made to work, but made to work at a very small amount of pay.

The idea is that prison is not meant to be comfortable, it's not meant to be nice.

It's meant to be that person has some of their freedom taken away as compensation for the crime they've committed.

However, prison is also meant to be there, to try and help to reform people.

So this idea that within prison, they are often given an education or trained in a skill.

And this is very helpful for people who commit crime often because they haven't had that an educational haven't been trained in a skill and therefore find themselves, maybe not, maybe without a job and therefore perhaps maybe fall into crime.

And alongside this, many prisoners also receive counselling, they may have an opportunity to talk to the people that they've harmed through their crime to help them realise their mistakes.

And so the idea of prison is of course, first of all, to take away their freedoms of retribution for their punishment.

So essentially saying, while you've taken away this from the society, so here's your punishment, you've got this new freedom taken away for a certain amount of time.

And the idea that it's not meant to be pleasant, that you have your freedom taken away, can be seen as a deterrence for lots of people too.

People don't want to spend years in prison away from their family, away from their friends, away from society, away from just everything that we enjoy in this life, but also looking to reform people as well.

So receiving counselling, receiving an education, helping people to develop skills, so a way to change their behaviour and improve their ability to contribute well to the society.

So what we're going to do is, for this idea of prison, I'm going to get you to think about how it achieves those aims of punishment that we recapped earlier.

So retribution, reformation, deterrence.

So I'm going to disappear, give you a question, you're going to have a go, I'm going to give you an answer.

Let's go.

So I'd like you to pause the video in a moment, spend about four minutes on this question and tell me how can prison work as a form of retribution, a form of deterrence and a form of reformation? So pause the video, have a go at writing down your answer unpause when you're ready to move on.

Okay, hopefully you got something along these lines.

So for retribution, it's to pay back for the seriousness of the crime committed, their freedom has been taken.

As a deterrence, people would not want their freedom taken to be locked in a cell, fed at set times, do manual work for small enough pay, this may deter people from committing crimes.

And for reformation, in prison, criminals can be offered education, train in a skill, receive counselling, talk to a religious leader as well.

This will encourage the criminals to change their behaviour for the better.

If you need to make any corrections, can you please pause the video and do so now and after that, we'll move on to looking at corporal punishment.

Okay, I'm going to appear on the screen in a moment.

Okay, so corporal punishment is a punishment where you cause the criminal physical pain there's flogging, whipping, amputation of the hand, et cetera, caning.

It is for so many people seen as a breach of the human rights, 'cause it necessarily, doesn't necessarily treat the criminal with dignity.

So many people would disagree with it as they believe that punishment should not cause unnecessary suffering.

It is actually illegal in the UK, so the UK does not use corporal punishment.

It was legal in schools, for use in schools since 19.

Start that sentence again.

Corporal punishment was used in schools until 1987.

So it was possible for a teacher to cane.

You may have spoken to someone who remembers being caned for certain things they did wrong in school, in the classroom, but it is illegal in the UK as a punishment.

It is however used in Sharia law in Islamic countries.

So this is seen as a good way of retribution and deterrence, the use of corporal punishment.

In this, there's not really the idea for reformation, it's not likely, it could, but it's not likely to help change the person's behaviour for the better and getting 'em to think about and talk through why they committed a crime? What the issue is, et cetera.

But it is used as a form of retribution, so pay back for the severity of crime committed, especially in Sharia law, in idea of if you steal something, you have your hand amputated as retribution, but also seen as a deterrence.

People that I don't want to steal because I don't want my hand to be amputated.

So corporal punishment, not used in the UK.

Many people believe that there's inhumane and unfair to 'cause that criminal unnecessary suffering, but for many people, it's also something that can be used as retribution, deterrence and an effective way of serving justice.

Again, I'm going to get you to think about how it achieves the aims but I'm also going to get you to talk about how you think it doesn't help with reformation.

So I'm going to disappear again, and I want you to complete these questions spending about four minutes on this.

So explain how corporal punishment can work as a form of retribution, a form of deterrence, but not as a form of reformation.

So I want you to pause the video please, have a go at writing out your answers unpause when you're ready to move on.

So here are my answers.

So for retribution, it's to pay back for the seriousness of the crime committed, they are caused physical pain, such as whipping for certain crimes.

Deterrence, people don't want to be.

People would not want to be physically harmed, this will deter them from committing the crime.

And for reformation, it's unlikely this will help change the criminal's behaviour for the better.

Again, if you need to make any corrections, please pause the video now, and then after you are ready, we are then going to look at community service as a punishment.

So again, I'm just going to appear onto the screen and we'll talk about community service.

Okay, so community service as a type of punishment is used for less serious crimes.

Things like vandalism, antisocial behaviour, graffiti, et cetera.

So it's used for less serious crimes.

Usually community service is to do with crimes that have been sort of unhelpful in the society.

So you've done something to damage property, or you have harmed the environment in some way, is essentially a chance to make up for what they've done.

It's unpaid work in the community, this could be anything in between like 40 to 300 hours of unpaid work.

It's usually things like litter picking or cleaning or think about picking gum up off the, you know, like when you walk down the street and there is like gum all over the floor, it's a community service and its like clearing up the local area, clearing up graffiti, cleaning, making everything look nice, of giving back to the community.

It's usually also the case that someone who is doing community service will wear a high-vis orange vest that says community service on it.

So that people who go past, perhaps maybe I'll say, I'm driving down the street in my car, I see someone in a high-vis orange vest that says community service, they're picking litter off the street, I might say, I don't want to be doing that, it's really clear that, that person's doing community service, they've obviously done something wrong.

So it's the idea of perhaps maybe it's a deterrence of you don't want to be paid, to be doing unpaid work, but also to be obviously doing community service in front of other people, which then therefore essentially shows that you've committed a crime.

But usually a community service comes alongside treatment programme.

So usually perhaps maybe if that person, has committed that crime because of poverty or addiction or all sorts of things or they've got into the wrong crowd, there's an idea of like an education programme, counselling goes alongside it, so try and prevent that sort of antisocial behaviour.

Now, interestingly, actually, if you sort of sometimes think about community service and you look at examples of community service, there are actually have been some famous people that have done community service.

Wayne Rooney is a really, really good examples.

If you don't know who Wayne Rooney is, he's a footballer, English footballer.

He committed a crime and I can't remember what the crime was for, but he committed a crime and he had to do community service.

So just like everybody else, he had to wear his orange vest to do this community service.

So people obviously know that you have done that crime, but it's for these less serious crimes, crimes that you wouldn't necessarily go to prison for.

So again, I'm going to get you to think about how community service is a form of retribution, deterrence reformation.

So I'm going to disappear again, so that you can do that.

Or explain how community service can work as a form of retribution, deterrence and reformation.

So to complete the questions, spend about four minutes on it.

Pause now, unpause when you're ready to go through the answers please.

Okay, so here is mine.

So retribution to pay back for the crime, the less serious crimes like vandalism, this is a way of making up to the community.

As a deterrence, people would not want to be seen wearing the high-visibility vest and would not want to do unpaid work, so it may deter them from doing those sorts of crimes.

And for reformation, community service is often done alongside treatment programmes or counselling, which will help deal with the criminal's behaviour.

Again, if you need to make corrections, please pause the video in a moment after this, we're now going to look at Christians and Muslim and non-religious views on these types of punishment.

So pause the video now, make corrections unpause when you are ready please.

Next we'll look at Christian views on these types of punishment.

So prison, corporal punishment and community service.

Starting with prison then.

Christian would, usually say traditionally that prison is a really good way to punish offenders, which also doesn't take away their dignity for small serious crimes.

Christians would say that alongside prisons should come reforms idea of helping someone, giving them advice, letting them talk to religious leader, giving them counselling, et cetera.

So that prison can be really effective for more serious crimes, as long as it's, like essentially alongside reform.

And that when that person's in prison, they shouldn't be unfairly treated and they shouldn't have unnecessary suffering caused to them.

As for corporal punishment, Christians would on the whole same, no that corporal punishment does not fit with the teachings of Jesus, which preaches love compassion, forgiveness.

They say that causing unnecessary suffering to a criminal is not okay.

And that instead you should be looking to essentially imprison someone or for less serious offences use community service.

So the majority of Christians say no corporal punishment shouldn't be used.

Some Christians may say that corporal punishment should be used 'cause of "an eye for an eye," but the majority of Christians say this view is outdated as Jesus overrode that teaching when he said, "turn to them the other cheek." As for community service, many Christians say that community service is a really good way of giving back to the community for less serious crimes.

Things like vandalism, essentially, you know, that person has damaged the environment or society, is giving back to the society, is looking after the environment, litter picking, cleaning, et cetera, gives back to the community.

But also because community service often has counselling alongside it, a really good way of helping that person through any problems they may be having.

Let's do some multiple choice, quick-fire questions then to make sure we understand the Christian views and these types of punishment, then we'll look at Islam and then look at non-religious views.

Many Christians believe alongside prison should be helpful for the criminal to reform? Is that true or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

Many Christians believe corporal punishment aligns with the teachings of Jesus? Is that true or false? Three, two, one, false.

They say that corporal punishment does not fit with ideas of love and compassion.

Many Christians believe community service is an effective way of punishing, minor offences.

True or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

Let's now move on to Islamic views on these types of punishment.

If my camera to appear? There we go.

Lets put out before we start in Islamic views.

I made those texts myself, aren't you impressed by them? I think so.

The cross is not mine, but I made that tick myself, 'cause I couldn't find in and clip off.

I'm quite impressed.

Anyway, Islamic views on these types of punishment prison, Muslim would say on the whole yes, prison is a good type of punishment, but it's not in the same way as Christianity may talk about prison.

Islamic views, this idea is it serves justice, it removes that prisoner from the society.

Essentially is a form of retribution for their crime committed with serious offence, taking away their freedom is a form of deterrence and retribution, not as an aim of reforming them.

So many Muslims would say actually, prison shouldn't be about reform, it should be about essentially punishing someone, taking away their freedom for a serious offence.

Many Muslims would agree with the use of corporal punishment because Sharia law outlines corporal punishment as a punishment for certain crimes, such as theft, adultery, drinking alcohol, et cetera.

Corporal punishment, whipping, caning, amputation of hand is something that's Sharia law outlines a certain punishments and therefore many Muslims who believe it's an effective deterrence and an effective form of retribution.

And that, that is essentially justice served for that particular crime.

As for community service, many Muslim societies is not enough for deterrence, it's not enough of a serious punishment that's going to put someone off committing crime again, or put someone off committing crime in the first place.

And Sharia law does not really use community service as a punishment.

So on the whole many Muslims say prison yes, but as a form of retribution, deterrence, not for a reform.

Reforming is about helping someone to learn submit to Allah, not changing their behaviour really, but just helping them on the right path.

So it's less of an influence and then talk about prison.

Corporal punishment yes, Sharia law outlines many punishments that are corporal and community service not so much 'cause they don't believe it's enough of a deterrence.

Let's do some multiple choice quick-fire questions based on that then.

Sharia law suggests prisons aren't really for reform.

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

Good, that is true.

Many Muslims believe corporal punishment is an ineffective punishment.

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

Many misses believe corporal punishment is an effective punishment.

Many Muslims believe community service isn't enough of a deterrence.

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

Good, that is true.

So now we're going to move on to non-religious views.

Where I'm I? There I am.

Okay, so non-religious views in these types of punishment will be very essentially.

What I've done there with my tick and my cross is, is giving you sort of the general idea within non-religious groups, but you'll probably find a huge amount of different views on this.

So in terms of prison, many non-religious people say that prisons are ineffective way of removing someone from society to protect society, but also to assist the offender, especially in the UK where prison often comes alongside reform.

Many non-religious people say this is an effective way with dealing with criminals, taking away their freedom, but also giving them an opportunity to learn from their mistakes, be educated, gain some skills, get some counselling so that when they are released into the community again, if they are, then they're able to contribute positively.

So the prison can be an effective method.

You may see, of course they normally just people saying that they think that the prisons in the UK are too soft.

Perhaps maybe allowed too much freedom there, so you might hear sometimes people talk about, they're allowed to TVs or internet access.

This is for maybe less serious crimes, but then maybe some people would say, prison needs to be harsher.

On the whole non-religious people may be against the use of corporal punishment.

Again there's this idea in the UK it's illegal and believing that it doesn't treat the prisoner with dignity.

Although there are still a number of non-religious people who would say that corporal punishment would be a good deterrence and a good form of retribution.

So some normally just people may favour the use of corporal punishment or want the UK to bring back corporal punishment.

Community service, on the whole non-religious people would find is a good way of helping a criminal to reform, but also a way to give back to the community.

So, you know, in this case of litter picking, cleaning, et cetera, is giving back to the community which benefits everybody, not just the offender themselves.

So again, we're going to do some quick-fire questions after done this quick-fire questions and then going to get us to consider doing an exam-style question to bring all of this together.

So are you ready? Many non-religious people in the UK would say prison is an effective punishment.

Three, two, one, good, that's true.

Many non-religious people believe corporal punishment is an effective punishment.

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

The majority probably would say that corporal punishment is ineffective because it doesn't treat someone with dignity.

Many non-religious people would see community service as a good way to give back to society.

True or false? Three, two, one.

Good, that is true.

Well done if you've got all of those questions correct.

Well done for keeping up I'm super impressed.

Let's move on to now putting this together into an exam-style question.

So what we need you to do is to pause the video on the next slide, I'm going to give you, an outline for us to use on this exam-style question, and then you're going to have go right in the answer and then I'll give you a model answer.

So I want you to answer this question.

Explain two contrasting religious views on community service as a type of punishment? In this case contrasting means different.

So I just need two different religious views on community service as a type of punishment.

So you need two different views, I think it would be a good idea to have Christianity and Islam 'cause then we can give two clear different views.

So you've got an outline here, some Christians belief and this is because, some Muslims believe in this because these are your sentence starters.

If you need to go back and listen to me explaining about community services as type of punishment within Christianity and Islam, then feel free to rewind and do that before you do this task, but if you are ready, you can pause the video and you're going to write out please and answer.

Then afterwards we're going to go through corrections together.

Okay, please have a different coloured pen out ready for correction, I'm going to give you a model answer.

There've been opportunity for you to add or to correct yours and then we will be done with our exam question.

So some Christians believe community service is an effective method of punishment for minor crimes, such as vandalism.

This is because it allows the criminal to repay the community and also gives a chance for the criminal to receive counselling, which helps with reform.

Some Muslims believe community service is an ineffective type of punishment.

This is because it's not enough of a deterrence to prevent these crimes from happening again.

As I said, if you need to make corrections, then you can pause the video the moment and make those corrections.

It doesn't have to be word for word like mine, there could be many ways you could explain this and write this in your own way.

It's just to pull out the most important parts really.

So of course, if you put that Muslims believe that community service is effective and that would be incorrect as the majority Muslims believe that community service is an ineffective type of punishment.

So you need to pause the video now for me please make corrections, then unpause, when you are ready.

Okay, I'm just going to appear up on the screen again.

Eventually, okay.

So a huge, huge thank you, for taking part in our lesson today.

I actually find this topic really interesting because it allows me to sit and think about the types of punishments that we have in the UK and allows me to think about my own views on them.

Well then I do believe that they're the right ones to use and whether or not I think they are effective or not and et cetera.

So I hope that you've had the opportunity too today and I also hope that you've learned laws in terms of Christians, Muslim and non-religious views.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again soon hopefully, as I said, thank you so much for taking part in our lesson today.

See you later.