Definitions of Punishment

Punishment

Called punishment to sanction a punishment or reprimand imposed on a person who has engaged in some kind of failure. Punishments generally seek to function as a corrective.

For example: “As punishment for having escaped from class, my parents will not let me go out with friends for a month”, “When officials commit crimes and do not receive any punishment, the message that is transmitted to the public is very bad”, “The European Union prohibited its members from carrying out commercial exchanges with the Asian country as a punishment for the human rights violations committed in its territory.

There are multiple types of punishments. At the family level, the punishment can be an oral scolding or some prohibition imposed by an authority figure (such as the father or mother). In the past, punishments for children used to include beatings, although physical violence is no longer endorsed by social consensus.

Punishment is a highly relevant element in an individual’s upbringing stage, which can lead to a series of limitations or open doors, depending on the degree of severity and justice with which reprimands are applied. As stated in the previous paragraph, hitting is not currently accepted as a resource to teach children lessons, although this does not prevent millions of people from continuing to use it.

When a healthy living being receives a physical attack there is no possibility that he will feel something positive; If you are in your childhood, one of the feelings that are usually aroused by physical punishment is frustration, since you do not understand the reasons why someone who claims to love you attacks you in this way and does not have the necessary physical strength to defend.

We must not forget that this type of punishment is complemented by the prohibition to reveal oneself: the child does not have the possibility, the permission to defend himself or to counterattack, but must bear the pain and humiliation that a blow from someone stronger supposes.. As is to be expected, if this is repeated too frequently throughout parenting, the consequences can be very negative.

Punishments are also applied in educational establishments and in the workplace when someone breaks a rule. Generally both rules and punishments are stipulated in a regulation or a code: this prevents an authority from acting arbitrarily when administering punishments.

In education, the punishments are varied and are applied with the intention of shaping the responsibility of students and preparing them to face adult life. Among the most common are low marks to punish failure to complete a task or the poverty with which an exam is taken, reprimands for misconduct, suspension from classes for a time and, in the worst cases, expulsion.

Already in adulthood, the punishments are usually more relevant since there is much more at risk than the approval of a subject. A serious misconduct at work can lead to dismissal or a complaint that will tarnish our reputation forever and prevent us from rejoining the workplace easily; This is why the limits that the educational system imposes on its students are so important.

At the judicial level, the punishments are the penalties applied to whoever commits a crime. The economic sanctions, the deprivation of liberty (imprisonment) and even the death penalty are some of these punishments, which vary according to the penal code of each nation.

Punishment