I welcome you to my blog and another wonderful edition of the Hive Learners' featured post. Sometimes it might feel like punishment does not work because despite the punishment placed for committing a certain crime, we still find people going in and serving the punishments attached to those crimes; all of that makes it look like those punishments are not severe enough because if they were, then everyone would avoid crimes completely and try not to be a part of it.
I have shared a blog before about how the fear of punishments from our parents was the only thing that deterred us from being involved in certain things. Sometimes you see kids doing certain things, and then you have that urge to join them, but then you remember your parents will react to the news of hearing that you were involved in such a thing, and then you find yourself withdrawing and not wanting to participate or be a part of it anymore. Some of us had disciplinarians as parents, and they always knew that punishment would get to us; for that reason, we tried as much as we could to avoid as much punishment as we could.
Even now as adults, trust me, that feeling did not go away with our childhood. There are crimes and punishments attached to them alongside the disgrace and the shame that follow being a part of a certain crime; that is the only thing that is helping a lot of us stay on track, or should I say, stay legal and try to find our feet legally. If not for the fear of the punishment that comes with certain crimes, I tell you that the streets would have been flooded with more people committing crimes and just a few people staying out of it. If there were no punishment attached to crimes, trust me, only a few human beings would not be a part of it, especially on this side of the world and considering the country's economy and how difficult things are and how hard it is to provide for oneself and family.
I don't support crime or those involved in it, but most of the people who commit crimes are mostly people who have really tried legally, like we are trying, and then they found themselves in a tight spot and had no other choice than to let the pressures push them into illegalities. An armed robber that was caught in a nearby neighborhood last week was doing that because there was nothing back home for the kids and wife; she was closed down, and he had been trying to do it legally, and it did not work out, and it resulted in him picking up arms.
As much as we have those who have choices and still choose crimes, most of the people committing crimes are those life left no other choice than to find other means to make a living. Don't think the punishment does not work or stop crimes because if there were none, I think only a few humans would still be able to resist the urge to do illegal things because many are only resisting it at the moment because of the fear of the punishments attached.
