My View on Punishment

 by Claudia Bishop

Lisa Montgomery (image: BBC)

This week the US executed the first woman on federal death row in nearly 70 years. Lisa Montgomery (52 years old) was put to death by lethal injection today (13th of January) around 14 years after her conviction in 2007. Upon hearing the news of this, it sparked debate in my house about whether the existence of the death row can be justified morally. 

In my view, I do not believe it is an effective punishment and therefore am against the death penalty. “Operant conditioning” is the idea that behaviours can be encouraged or discouraged using reinforcement and punishment. Prison would be considered a form of negative punishment as a prisoner's freedom is taken away in order to reduce their criminal behaviours. Although this is usually seen as a practical way to administer criminal justice, evidence about the effectiveness of punishment has shown that it is best when administered quickly and consistently. Prison sentences are often given years after the incident actually occurred and not every criminal is caught and convicted with every crime reducing the impact of the punishment. This may explain why prison isn't as beneficial as expected, with around 25% of offenders reoffending in the UK and a staggering 75% in the USA. For convicts, punishment can lead to labelling which makes it difficult to reintegrate into society. Therefore I am arguing that the prison system is mainly focused on revenge and “getting what you deserve” rather than reform and change to help troubled people to become better functioning members of society.

The death penalty is surprisingly still legal in 28 states with it taking around 11 lives last year. In America, death row has become infamous for its victims such as John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer. Due to the death row victims creating so much attraction, this has led to revenge being implicitly accepted into society in the US. For instance, Ted Bundy’s execution attracted a lot of public attention with crowds gathering outside the execution room with signs that read “Burn Bundy Burn”. Although Bundy’s actions were terrible, members of the public inciting such hate speech and vengeful behaviour is almost scarier. This can also be applied to the James Bulger case as members of the public openly threatened and spread hate speech to the two 10 year old boys who were responsible for James’ death. For a penalty that is supposed to make society safer, the unintended consequence of hateful communities seems to break down the idea that criminal justice is supposed to make the world a kinder and happier place. As well as this, the use of death as a punishment counteracts the teaching that murder is unjustifiable.

On a much smaller scale, this can be applied to the education system. From a young age, schools teach conformity to rules or we will be punished in the form of verbal punishment or perhaps negative punishment (the removal of a gold star from a sticker chart). This can lead to a reduction in a child's confidence as they believe they are undeserving of praise and are not as good as their peers. Often, once a child is given the label of being a troublemaker it is difficult to break free from this. After being given this label a child may be classically conditioned to believe that school should make them feel upset. This can explain many teenagers' dislike of schooling as there is an association made between the conditioned stimulus of schooling and fear (a conditioned response). The result of this is rather than schools being a positive place for children to learn for many it can be restrictive and negative.

My solution to this would be replacing punishment with reform to help communities and societies view others as human beings as a product of their upbringing rather than being defined by the actions exhibited. In an ideal world, prisoners and children who were once punished for their deviant behaviour can be helped to find the cause of their actions and be cared for to ensure they do not threaten society in the future.