From the beginning of humanity, it's either right or wrong. Humans can commit crimes whether intentionally or by mistake. There are small crimes, there are big ones and there are the ones that don't even fall into the category of crimes but have hurt people, especially emotionally. People do these things because they want to.
I remember when I was still a little girl and I mess up at home while dad is away, I would be so scared when I hear the sound of his voice coming from outside. A lot of those times, he'd hit me or shout at me. But some days, he'd say nothing, then my little troublesome mind will try to do the ones that he overlooked over and over again.
Even though I knew it was wrong for me to do it, I did it anyways because dad won't say a word about it or hit me like he does with other mess I cause. Now that I think about it, it says a lot about how humans live in the absence and in the presence of rules. Both sides have huge effects.
The prompt is asking if punishments work and my response will come from the direction of, punishment are meant to exist to keep every single person from committing the same crime. Imagine if there was no punishment for a crime, that offenders go scot free all the time they do it.
What will be the fate of those watching, especially the victims or families of the victim? I don't believe punishment for crimes are given only for the offenders to suffer for what they've done, it is also a means to use them as scapegoats or practicals to teach others lessons by watching and not from their own experiences.
I want to believe every single person on earth knows to a good extent that there are existing punishment rules for crimes they commit. While some may find themselves in it without planning and still pay for the crimes, there are those who commit the crime after proper planning and this is so they don't get punished for the crime at last.
The point I am making is, punishment do work because the world isn't in an uproar of news about everyone killing themselves at every slight discomfort or hurt from another or doing other crimes at will. That's the good side of having these punishments on ground for offenders, to keep as much people as possible away from it.
Punishment is actually never enough but increasing it won't stop evil from continuing, there are only a few people who don't go with their criminal minds to take actions and the punishments in place is what is keeping most of them away. Even though crimes won't stop, even though people will continue to hurt others knowing there's a punishment for it, even though it doesn't seem like the punishment are working, it isn't a reason to stop punishing the offenders.
Image used is AI generated.
