Punishment vs Revenge

Punishment and revenge are quite different words in terms of their meanings. Punishment in crime is some pain or penalty warranted by law, inflicted on a person, for the commission of a crime or misdemeanor while revenge is to seek vengeance for harm done on a person. However, people seem to view these words interchangeabaly, especially in the eyes of the victim/prosecters or people related to the victim. However, I feel that this should not be the case.

Punishment is a means of instilling law and order in a society, ensuring justice and as a means of reforming the offender by making the induvidual realize his or her mistakes. The severity of the punishment should depend on the seriousness of the crime. However, the desire to take revenge is always in the hearts of the prosecuters in court and it is thus often easy to see how the jury might misuse its authority and inflict cruel and unusual punishment. Whatever the case, it should never exceed what is requisite to reform the criminal and to protect society as whatever goes beyond this, is cruelty and revenge. If exceeded, it can do excessive harm.

An example of revenge influenced punishments would be the incident in Iran where two sisters, Zohreh and Azar, were sentenced to 99 lashes, each, when they were found guilty of “unlawful fraternisation” with two men. But one sister’s husband was not satisfied with the punishment and, showing footage from a security camera he had in his apartment, he showed the two women in conversation with two men. The Supreme Court in Tehran then, without seeing the evidence from the defence, changed the verdict to “death by stoning”.
The offender will not be reformed through this type of punishment but develop a hatred in him or her toward the society and a want to take revenge and hence might commit more crimes.

Crime today is a very major and significant issue. We see crimes being committed at an alarming rate and new forms of crimes that were previously unheard of being committed. This can pose a major threat to our society if not dealt with appropriately. Revenge should never be a factor when handing out a punishment, only reforming the offender should be the motive.