The Development of Punishment in the Light of Penal and Criminological Schools of Thought

Punishment is a behavior, which is in essence the same as crime, since it imposes constraints on people's liberty and/or breaches their rights. Accordingly, it is necessary to justify the reasons for exercising this behavior which limits people’s liberty and/or violates their rights. Since punishment versus crime is one of the bases of criminal law, every school of thought, which has expressed views in the field of criminal law, has tried to justify the reasons for punishment. These schools of thought have mainly justified the reasons for punishment based on the purposes of considering it. Some have been of the view that the purposes of punishment are reflected in its future effects, while others believe that they are reflected in its ability to compensate. Although many of viewpoints are expressed in the context of these two perspectives, they are distinguished from each other because of their own special characteristics. Accordingly, this paper attempts to elaborate these viewpoints.