LET'S PUNISH TO DETER

BY: AFOLABI ABDULMALIK  OMOGBOLAHAN.



Deterrence may be viewed as  an act of persuading someone to abstain or desist from something.


It is evident that the major purpose of punishing in our multiethnic country, Nigeria, is not to deter the perpetrators. Rather it inflicts a temporary or even permanent suffering on the victims of such acts.

An example is the case of a 7 year old child who was alleged to have stolen garri in Lagos state. Ordinarily, the boy could have been cautioned and counselled, but sadly, the young boy was mercilessly burnt alive.

More disheartening, on various occasions, if anyone is caught stealing or perpetrating any act of unlawfulness, the next thing  you see people do is to take laws into their hands. Ask me if this beating is to deter him? Obviously NO.It is understandable that there are numerous persons out there whom have fallen victims of such theft cases, but notwithstanding, resorting to jungle justice is not a way to go by.

The purpose of punishment include; Deterrence, retribution, Reformation, compensation, safeguard of collective securities, general protection of lives and properties and maintenance of law and order. Deterrence being the specific, and others, the general purpose.
Deterrence can be classified into two; Specific and General deterrence.

Specific deterrence is when an individual is punished in order to stop his/her bad act, while the latter is when a person is punished to serve as an example to others no to venture pin the same offence.There are two schools of thoughts on deterrence; The first, headed by Jeremy Bentham which are the minority opined that the purpose of punishment is to stop repetition of crime (i.e to deter the perpetrators). While the second school of thought,who are the majority which consist of eminent personalities like: the Ex chief justice of England- Lord Goddard, A.L goodact, Smith, organ, egen, and Lord denning opined that punishment is not to deter  offenders but to inflict pain on them. This second school of taught has an overriding decision because they are of the majority.

It is now a norm in our society for people to resort to objurgation when a public misconduct occurs by the way of advertently beating and stripping naked; especially ladies, which is quite preposterous. I wonder what the ignorant perpetrators derive from this act. It's high time we left those uncivilised, barbaric, and archaic attitudes.

 If punishment is based on deterrence, in no time, there would be a massive reduction in perpetration of crimes in our society.


About the author: Afolabi is a writer; an essayist and a poet, a Law student at the University of Ilorin, for questions, enquiries and suggestions he can be reached via +2348148777171, Arabzico11@gmail.com, or Afoguarantor11@gmail.com.