Probe Into The Purpose Of Punishment

The theory of the purpose of punishment occupies the important position of the punishment theories. The in-depth study of the theory of the purpose of punishment would tremendously enhance and complete the punishment theories. Based on the basic concept, the brief introduction was made in this paper in the beginning; then, the literature studies were investigated according to the philosophers of all times; finally, the preliminary analysis of the purpose of punishment in China was conducted based on the consideration of the influencing factors on the purpose of punishment. Besides of introduction and conclusion, four main parts were stated in the paper in details as following:The first chapter is Summary of the purpose of punishment.The purpose of punishment was defined here by all stages of criminal justice like criminal legislation, criminal justice and criminal execution, which could be the better way to explain the situation of the purpose of punishment among all the criminal justice activities. In short, the purpose of punishment showed huge influences on all the activities including criminal legislation, criminal justice, criminal execution and also the development of the society.The second chapter is Literature study of the purpose of punishment from foreign countries.The three important theories of the purpose of punishment of the criminal law from abroad were stated in this part: retribution, prevention and a compromised theory between retribution and prevention. The retribution theory has been through different stages including God retribution, moral retribution and law retribution. God retribution theory believed that all the treatment to the criminals by the country was all because of the god. Besides its absurd saying, god retribution theory really worked in the circumstances in the old days to protect the stability of the society. Moral retribution theory hold the belief that criminal was the activity against moral. However, the confusion happened with the relationships between moral and criminal. Law retribution believed that law was the justice of right or wrong, and criminal was the activity that against the law. Retribution theory pursues the justice, which is good against crime activities. The disadvantage of this theory is that it can not prevent the crime which are not happened. The prevention theory can be divided into normal prevention and special prevention. Normal prevention was used to punish the crime to alert the other people from crime, especially for the people with the criminal potential. Special prevention was used to punish the crime from deteriorating the society permanently or for a period. This theory is on the basic of the society, with the advantage of foreseeing value of the punishment. The compromised theory between retribution and prevention was introduced as follows. The compromised theory believed that the purpose of punishment included retribution and prevention with different effects, respectively. The compromised theory was tried to harmony the advantage and disadvantage of retribution and prevention with enhance the criminal theories.The third chapter is Literature study of the purpose of punishment in China.Both of the ancient and modernized historical periods were discussed. In ancient times, the God punishment theory was the dominant of Xia, Shang and Zhou. The deterrence and heavy penalty theory was implemented from the Chunqiu period by the Legalists. The god punishment and the deterrence and heavy penalty theory was successful in the old times to keep the stability of the society. The contemporary view of the purpose of punishment was more active and more in-depth studies. The main theories were punishment theory, prevention theory, education theory, etc. In addition, each theory has it's own advantage and disadvantages.The last chapter is the muti-angle purpose of punishment of china .Based on the critical view of the past purpose of punishment, the multi-side tool was used to investigate development the punishment in China. Punishment is the opposite of criminal, and the level of punishment is equal to the level of criminal. Generally, the attitude to the different level of criminal is totally different by the legislation to retribute and prevent the crime.The difference on level of punishment with different time periods and politics are also shown in the paper. Investigations were carried out on the different level of punishment in China including death penalty, life imprisonment, limited term of imprisonment, criminal detention , public surveillance,deprivation of political rights,fine,confiscation of property and deportation especially for foriengers.The death penalty reveals the retribution theory. And the other punishments indicate the integration of the retribution theory and the prevention theory. The relationship between crime and punishment, the relationship between policy and punishment, the types of the criminal penalties and execution of the criminal penalties are also discussed in this part. According to the analysis, protecting the class rule, the compromise between retribution and prevention, moreover, the combination of the two theories could be the better way to improve the Chinese punishment.