Implementing An Effective Punishment For An Offender

Achieving justice for all and providing appropriate punishment to fit all crimes is a prominent issue within the criminal justice system. In considering an effective punishment for an offender, the law must be mindful of both the moral and legal rights of a number of parties, including the society, the offender, and the victim, in order to achieve true justice for all (Warren 2005) - a process proving controversial and almost impossible in many cases. Whilst aiming to provide a system in which citizens trust, respect, and understand (Warren 2005), the criminal justice system seeks to sustain a society confident in the justice served by its legal system, and one that possesses a sincere desire for justice. Developing punishments to fit†¦show more content†¦Instead, the focus of the law is directly placed on legal facts presented during a case. From these, justice - in accordance with the court of law - will be served. The problem with this however, is that a prominent belief in society is that the politics surrounding the case over-rule the need for justice inside a court, when in fact, the moral rights and emotions of the victim should be the most important factor whilst determining a just sentence for the offender (The Age 2002). This ideal is based on the belief that the impact the crime had on the victim is more extreme than the impact of any form of punishment placed on the offender, suggesting that justice can only be served once an offender is forced to adress and respond to the concerns of the victim, and following this, suffer extensively harsh punishment (Launchland 2015), regardless of any mitigating factors present in the case. In contrast, many people also support a more empathetic approach towards the offender, encouraging the growth of a more corrective and rehabilitational legal system, and recognising the moral and legal rights of an offender to be just as substantial as those of a victim (Timary Herald 1999) in determining what true ju stice really is. From simply examining the above opinions on what justice really is and how it can be served in the criminal justice system,