Does Punishment Deter Crime?

Does Punishment Deter Crime?  
    Does punishment deter crime? Does the thought of receiving a certain punishment make a person think twice about committing a crime? This is a question the law today is faced with. Through the years there have been many different forms of punishment in America. These forms of punishment are simply things the judicial system is trying to do to people in order to keep them from committing crimes. If this country had less crime, it would be more orderly, and therefore be a better place.
    There are four classifications of punishment in America’s judicial system. They are retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and societal protection. Retribution is the act of repaying or repairing something. When I think of retribution I think of a criminal paying a price for something he or she has done. Maybe if the criminal assaulted someone, then he would need to pay that person money for his or her pain and suffering.
    Deterrence means that punishment is a necessary consequence of a crime. I understand deterrence to be like trying to make someone scared to commit a crime. If they are scared of the punishment that will happen when being caught committing the crime, then hopefully they will not do it.
    Rehabilitation is the restoration of a person. The law wants to try to improve that person by retraining them as a whole. They believe that if a person has it in his mind to commit a crime, then that person can be trained to becoming a better person and distinguish right from wrong. There are now institutions made to reform different kinds of criminals. The criminals are sent to a group home and such to rehabilitate, Just as an ill person would go to a hospital to become well again. To me a prison can be seen as a place for rehabilitation. Criminals are sent to prison in hopes that they will begin to think differently about the crime that they have committed.
    The last one is societal protection. It came about to protect the... [continues]

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