Effective law and order requires effective punishment. Do you agree?

I agree that effective law and order requires effective punishment. What will stop a person from committing a crime and not give in to the temptation he has? Neither is it mother’s nagging nor is it moral education. It is punishment.

Punishment has been proven to be the best way to maintain effective law and order throughout the years. Punishment inflicts both physical and mental pain in the criminal, some of which he or she would remember for life. The main reason why ex-offenders did not repeat their mistakes is because they do not want to go through the pain again. One part of the video shows a man not willing to confess that he had stolen his friend’s crops, but when he was to dip his hand into the hot oil (a traditional way of indicating who is guilty), he was so scared that he confessed that he was the one who stole those crops. This shows that generally, man is afraid of pain and punishment. Examples of punishments include: committee services, canning, jailing, public humiliations and death sentence.

Nevertheless, punishment must be differentiated from torture. Torture is the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, according to dictionary.com. Acts of torture should never be allowed to be a form of punishment as it clearly violates human rights.

However, punishment does not necessary yields effective law and order. Some criminals got use to the punishments that are inflicted on them and they are thus immune to the pain. No amount of punishments would change them. For these people, what they need most are supports and encouragements from their love ones.

In conclusion, effective law and order requires effective punishments. However, punishments should be justifiable so that it does not become torture. If punishments no longer proves to be useful on someone, its time to use something “soft” on him.