Retribution and Deterence are closely tied together...
Rehabilitation sounds good but doesn't usually work.
Incapacitation is costly and insecure - criminals may escape.
Personally, I support the death penalty for murder and rape, jail time and/or double restitution for theft, and fines for smaller misdemeanors.
Seeing the digression in the judgement thread to law, it made me curious to see how people believe the Adversary System should sentence criminals.
There are four basic sentencing principles:
1. Retribution-To put it simply, and eye for an eye. If a criminal harms you in some way, then the criminal will be harmed the same way.
2. Deterrence-Making an example of a criminal by imposing the worst possible punishment for the crime. The idea is to deter future criminals by the threat of a heavy punishment. This has been upheld in the majority of courts in the U.S. as the main objective of the criminal court system.
3. Rehabiliation-The idea of reforming criminals to be reintegrated into society. Many criminals who do their time end up back in jail after a short time. In practice though, this method has only proven effective in a small number of cases. In addition, this is the most expensive sentencing with the rehabilitation centers and different programs.
4. Incapacitation-The idea of preventing repeat offenses of a criminal, and to protect society by the removal of the criminal. To put it simply, criminals are incarcerated.