Efficacy of the Reformative Theory of Punishment in India

Abstract

Most of the criminal justice systems worldwide adopt the reformative tools and techniques with the prime object to introduce reformation in convicts instead of using age-old coercive techniques. The Indian criminal justice is not an exception to this. Indian criminal jurisprudence believes in the reformative theory of punishment where the criminal shall be treated with as much goodwill and humanity as a normal citizen. It believes in the capacity of a person to change and usually holds the surroundings responsible for influencing a specific type of deviant behavior. The intention is to review whether reformative theory also counts as a form of ‘punishment’ or is a mere form of intervention. If the same qualified as the latter, then whether the same is conclusive? Attempts at social integration for the criminals may be successful, provided there is readiness on behalf of both the parties involved. The rate of success in India is adjusted due to external factors such as lack of education, population explosion, and social morality. The collateral impacts of recidivism are something that needs to be studied to the cause of rehabilitative theory. Further, in this paper, researchers have reviewed the efficacy and various facets of the reformative theory of punishment.