What role does punishment serve withing the criminal justice system?
It SHOULD serve as a deterrent to criminals thinking about re-offending.- That’s the whole point of prison. However – as we well know, at least in the UK – that “deterrent” factor has long since been removed by successive governments (of whatever persuasion) to the degree that prison is now seen by some criminals as merely a break in their career progression. How is it possible that we have arrived at a situation where someone is jailed for “30 years” and is back out on the streets 10 years later, or a “Life” sentence now means 15 years (sometimes less). I am not a Right-winger, but surely for violent crimes the sentence MUST mean THAT sentence (ie 15 Years = 15 years). It’s not rocket-science, is it?
