Punishment Theories and Elements of Crime: A Comparative Analysis, Study notes of Law

Download Punishment Theories and Elements of Crime: A Comparative Analysis and more Study notes Law in PDF only on Docsity!     us.docsity.com  Argument Types Punishment Theories Retribution Deterrence Rehabilitation Incapacitation Punishment because one deserves it; must ‘pay back debt to society’ created by crime (deont.) Punishment is good because it discourages future crime through fear of punishment -general: deterring everyone from committing that crime -specific: deterring the criminal being punished from doing it again Attempt to improve criminal’s character so he will be able to later function in society w/o committing crime -could be open-ended so could be worse on criminal -expensive Making it physically impossible for a person to commit further crimes -Not cost effective -Punishing for POSSIBLE future offenses -What about criminals who would never commit another crime? Elements of a Crime 1) actus reus: required conduct 2) attendant circumstances 3) result 4) mens rea: required mental state to commit the crime 5) No justifications or excuses to negate defenses to the crime 6) No statute of limitations defense to commit crime 7) Proper jurisdiction or venue Deontological- based on first principles/ natural law: “It is right because it is right.” Precedent- decisions previously made in similar situations Teological- based on consequence: “Shouldn’t kill because it takes someones life.” Analogy- comparing other situations to the one at hand Utilitarian- based on what it best for everyone (society) -slippery slope: If we allow this, it will lead to worse things being allowed and then chaos -floodgates: If we allow this once, then many people will begin doing it and it is will be very bad for everyone Ad hominen- attacking source of argument or opinion to discount it