Punishment is the intentional infliction of burdens—such as fines, restrictions, or deprivations of liberty—on an offender for a recognized offense, typically by a public authority under law. In legal philosophy it denotes state-imposed hard treatment for crime; in behavioral psychology it denotes consequences that decrease the likelihood of a behavior recurring. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, modern discussions trace functions of punishment to retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation, with historical movement from private vengeance toward state-administered sanctions. Encyclopaedia Britannica. In psychology, operant conditioning defines punishment as any consequence—positive (adding a stimulus) or negative (removing a stimulus)—that lowers the probability of a behavior.
OpenStax, Psychology 2e;
Britannica, Operant conditioning.
Historical development
Eighteenth‑century penal reformers criticized arbitrary and cruel sanctions and championed proportionality. Cesare Beccaria argued that punishments should be certain, prompt, and proportionate, condemning torture and capital punishment; his treatise helped to rationalize European criminal law. Crimes and Punishments (transl. incl. Beccaria, 1764). The shift from spectacular corporal penalties to custodial sentences and discipline as a mode of social control was later analyzed by Michel Foucault as part of the emergence of the modern prison. (book://Michel Foucault|Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison|Vintage|1977). Britannica’s overview of punishment captures this transition from private to public administration and the rise of proportionate sentencing.
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Definitions and scope
- –Legal and philosophical usage: state‑imposed hard treatment expressing censure for law breaking; debates concern what justifies such treatment and its limits.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- –Behavioral psychology: in operant conditioning, punishment reduces behavior frequency and is distinguished from reinforcement, which increases it.
OpenStax, Psychology 2e;
Britannica, Operant conditioning.
Major theories of justification
- –Retributive justice: wrongdoing merits punishment in proportion to desert; punishment must not instrumentalize persons. Immanuel Kant argued that punishment is justified only because the guilty committed a crime, not to promote other goods. (book://Immanuel Kant|The Metaphysics of Morals|Cambridge University Press|1996 (1797));
- –Utilitarian and deterrent accounts: punishment aims at crime reduction by shaping incentives; Jeremy Bentham grounded penal policy in the principle of utility and proportionality calibrated to deterrent effect.
Online Library of Liberty—Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Contemporary reviews find that the certainty of apprehension deters more reliably than the severity of sanctions.
Annual Review of Economics (Nagin, 2013).
- –Incapacitation and rehabilitation: punishment may protect the public by restraining offenders and by changing behavior. A U.S. National Research Council synthesis documents the growth of incarceration and discusses limited crime‐control returns from long sentences alongside the collateral consequences of imprisonment.
National Academies Press (2014).
- –Communicative/expressivist accounts: punishment communicates censure and calls offenders to account within a civic relationship.
- –Abolitionist and alternative models: critics question whether state punishment can be morally justified or effective; alternatives include Restorative Justice, which emphasizes repairing harm and involving victims, offenders, and communities.
UNODC, Education for Justice—Restorative justice. Meta-analytic evidence finds small but significant reductions in general recidivism and higher victim satisfaction in adult restorative programs.
Criminology & Criminal Justice (2023) meta-analysis.
Forms and modes
Common legal punishments include fines, probation and community sanctions, imprisonment, and—where retained—corporal and capital punishment. Historical sources and overviews classify and compare these forms and their rationales. Encyclopaedia Britannica. In psychology, “positive punishment” presents an aversive stimulus; “negative punishment” removes a desired stimulus; both reduce targeted behavior.
OpenStax, Psychology 2e;
Britannica, Operant conditioning. See also Death Penalty.
Legal and human‑rights constraints
- –Constitutional limits (U.S.): the Eighth Amendment prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments,” interpreted through evolving standards of decency, proportionality limits, and constraints on conditions of confinement.
Cornell Law School, LII—U.S. Constitution Annotated, Amendment VIII;
- –International standards: the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) codify minimum conditions, prohibiting, inter alia, indefinite or prolonged solitary confinement and corporal punishment as disciplinary measures.
UN General Assembly Res. 70/175—Nelson Mandela Rules (UN Digital Library);
EU Agency for Fundamental Rights—summary of key rules.
- –Convention against Torture (CAT): prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; entered into force 26 June 1987.
United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law—CAT.
Effectiveness and empirical findings
- –Certainty vs. severity: rigorous reviews conclude that increasing the certainty (likelihood) of apprehension deters more consistently than increasing sanction severity; evidence does not support justifying very long sentences on deterrence grounds.
- –Custodial sanctions and recidivism: a meta‑analysis of 116 studies finds that, compared with noncustodial sanctions, imprisonment has null or slightly criminogenic effects on reoffending on average. (journal://Crime and Justice|Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta‑Analytic Review|2021; DOI:10.1086/715100).
- –Correctional education and programs: meta‑analysis shows participation in correctional education reduces recidivism (about 13 percentage points) and improves post‑release employment odds.
RAND (2013). A systematic review of randomized trials finds, overall, at most modest effects on reoffending for many prison‑based psychological interventions, with stronger evidence for therapeutic communities and continuity of care.
The Lancet Psychiatry (2021) with open‑access summary.
- –Reentry and problem‑solving courts: meta‑analytic work suggests small average reductions in recidivism from reentry programs and mental‑health courts, with substantial heterogeneity by program design and implementation.
OJP/NCJRS (2014) reentry meta‑analysis;
Psychiatric Services (2017) meta‑analysis via PubMed.
Key texts and thinkers
- –Reform and proportionality: Cesare Beccaria, Dei delitti e delle pene (On Crimes and Punishments) (1764), a foundational argument against torture and for proportionate sanctions.
Project Gutenberg edition.
- –Utilitarian penal theory: Jeremy Bentham, codifying a utility‑based calculus for offenses and punishments.
- –Retributive theory: Immanuel Kant, insisting on desert as the sole justification for state punishment. (book://Immanuel Kant|The Metaphysics of Morals|Cambridge University Press|1996 (1797)).
- –Sociological and critical analyses: Michel Foucault, interpreting punishment and the penitentiary as techniques of discipline embedded in broader social power relations. (book://Michel Foucault|Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison|Vintage|1977).
Comparative and institutional perspectives
The United Nations’ Mandela Rules articulate globally accepted minima for treatment of prisoners and disciplinary limitations, widely used as benchmarks in prison law and policy. UN Digital Library—A/RES/70/175;
UN iLibrary overview. National constitutions and high‑court jurisprudence (e.g., the U.S. Eighth Amendment) similarly limit modes and severity of punishments.
Cornell LII—U.S. Constitution Annotated.