1. REASONS FOR PUNISHMENT

A crime is an act committed or omitted (failure to perform a required

act in violation of public law. The "degree" of a crime denotes a

particular grade of crime more or less culpable than another grade of

the same offense, the classlficauon of offenses is generally

provided by statute or Constitution.

A. Deterrence

1 General deterrence

People are punished in order to instill in non-offenders fear

of the consequences of a crime. Deterrence has the

following characteristics:

a. It is less effective for habitual criminal

b It Is more effective for first time offender,

c It deters members of the public from crirmnal behavior

once they see the consequences suffered by those who

commit crimes

d it is forward-looking m the sense of prevenung or

reducing the incidence of future offensive behavior.

e It has a central utilitarian premise that society has the

right to take measures that protecl its members from

harmful behavior, This premtse remains widely

influential today.

2 Special deterrence

Special deterrence focuses on the criminal himself and

teaches the convict to refrain from crime by instilling in him

a fear of punishrnent by society

a Special deterrence refers to steps taken to discourage

individual offenders from repeaung their misconduct

h. rhis theory presupposes that the actor who offends

once may desire to commit future violations, but

assumes that the costs imposed by the past punishment

will deter offenders front repeaung their misconduct