Correctional agencies and the justice system depend on various sentencing philosophies while providing appropriate sentences to criminals. In the olden days, the society mainly used the idea of retribution (where a suspect or criminal gets what he or she deserves) n dealing with a criminal. In such situations, a victim or the victim’s family or friends would hunt down the criminal and punish him in a way that justifies his crime ( Patterson et al., 2017) . Retribution aims to provide a sentence that is proportionate to the crime. Deterrence was another philosophy applied by correctional agencies and the society in the earlier days in dealing with criminals. Through deterrence, criminals are warned or deterred through fear of severe r punishment that they would get if they commit various forms of crimes. Retribution and deterrence philosophies were used throughout the colonial era. By the 18 th century, however, after the revolution, the philosophy of rehabilitation was adopted by the government and the correctional agencies in dealing with criminals. The aim of rehabilitation is to transform a criminal’s behavior. An offender can be sent to a rehabilitation facility or ordered to perform various community services. Rehabilitation is centered on the individual criminal and improving his or her behavior.
In the modern age, many other philosophies have been in use when it comes to sentencing criminals. Over time, various courts have applied different philosophies in coming up with the appropriate sentence for various crimes ( Henley, 2017) . Other than retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation some of the other philosophies used by courts include incapacitation, reparation, rehabilitation, and denunciation. Through incapacitation, a criminal is made incapable of committing further crimes by making them serve long prison sentences or through banning orders. In reparation, the criminal is made to compensate or repay the community. The philosophy of denunciation looks at how the society approves or disapproves of particular behaviors or offenses. The type and the severity of the sentence provided depend on the nature of the crime. An appropriate philosophy of sentencing which best suits the situation is then applied.
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Though rehabilitation is still used in many instances, the current justice system, particularly the American justice system, favors a uniformity approach rather than individualization in sentencing. This is generally referred to as the determinate form of sentencing. This philosophy aims to provide a proportional kind of justice rather than just focus on reforming the individual. The determinant form of sentencing takes many forms all of which focus on the provision of sentences that are proportional to the crime ( Bierschbach & Bibas, 2016) . Uniformity, severity, certainty, and neutrality are highly considered in a determinate form of sentencing. Every criminal, in every state and every court, must be sentenced proportionally to the crime. Determinate sentencing tries to do away with irregularities in the criminal justice system whereby criminals with similar offenses serve unequal periods or face different forms of punishments.
Sentencing philosophies, therefore, play quite a significant role in administering punishment to criminals by correctional; agencies. The actions of the correctional agencies of administering punishments are driven by various philosophies of sentencing. The type of philosophy used determines the nature of punishment. The approach of determinate sentencing in the modern day is most recommended as it aims to provide equivalent forms of punishment for similar crimes.
References
Bierschbach, R. A., & Bibas, S. (2016). What's Wrong with Sentencing Equality?. Virginia Law Review , 1447-1522.
Henley, A. (2017). Mind the gap: sentencing, rehabilitation and civic purgatory. Probation Journal .
Patterson, M. J., Gover, A. R., & Trochmann, M. (2017). 2 Victim Rights and Retribution. Routledge Handbook of Corrections in the United States .
