INTRODUCTION
Criminal law is a crucial foundation for any functioning society[1]. In other words, criminal law is a pillar of society that plays an important role in protecting and maintaining social order, as it may sometimes offend the population due to its less rigid nature. It sets out the rules and regulations that tell us what counts as a crime and what the consequences are for those who break these rules. The main job of criminal law is to manipulate society through its punishments so that the social order and stability of the country would not be disrupted[2].
Without criminal law, society may deteriorate into chaos, causing people to act without fear of consequences and diminishing trust in one another.
DETERRENCE AND PREVENTION
One of the key roles of criminal law is deterrence[3]. The possibility of facing a penalty, be it a fine, imprisonment or something else: a death penalty or encounter, is meant to break the courage of people from committing crimes. This is known as general deterrence, where punishing one person serves as a warning to others[4]. Then there’s specific deterrence, which aims to stop a particular offender from reoffending in the future. Deterrence may sound strict, but to follow it strictly, the unity of society is necessary because it is possible in some countries to have a flexible deterrence for offending a community.
Criminal law plays a crucial role in promoting community safety by clearly defining actions that are considered crimes and outlining the consequences that follow[5]. This clarity helps deter individuals from engaging in harmful behaviour, which is essential for maintaining peace and security within a community.
RETRIBUTION AND JUSTICE
Criminal law also exists to provide retribution and a sense of justice for victims[6]. Where there’s a ‘culprit’, there’s always a ‘victim’ whose individual rights have been hurt by the actions committed by the offender. This isn’t about harming rights; this is all about hurting the morals of an individual or the community itself by breaking the law. The legal system works to hold offenders accountable, which can offer a sense of closure to victims and their families[7]. It reassures people that the state is there for them and will do everything to provide justice, ultimately to the victims and their families themselves, who are seeking justice as the last ray of hope and putting their belief in the rigidity of the law.
REHABILITATION AND SOCIAL REINTEGRATION
Instead, in punishment, Modern criminal justice systems view rehabilitation as an integral part of justice’s nature[8]. It helps to grow the mental stability of the offender and helps him transform into a new person who can provide a sense of assurance and safety to the people around him. The motive of rehabilitation is to open a new path to help the offenders if they feel guilty of the crime they committed[9].
This progressive approach understands that simply punishing someone is not enough to prevent future crimes. As sometimes it may appear as the falsely claimed belief in the offender, it is not possible for a person to have a criminal record and suddenly get trained under rehabilitation and assure everyone with his growth and development. Because there are a lot of cases under which an offender has reoffended, one’s right even after gaining the experience of rehabilitation training. By providing opportunities for personal growth and transformation, the justice system can contribute to building a safer community for everyone.
SOCIETY’S SAFETY
The top priority of criminal law is to protect society[10]. Criminal law works as a transparent shield of society to emphasise its security by penalising those who commit crimes and offend society and its people in any context. Criminal law creates a secure environment where people of the community can freely live and perform their rights and duties without any fear of getting hurt.
Criminal law creates and opens a lot of paths for those who have committed a crime and roam without any fear of punishment. After the penalty time of a particular offender is over, he is not fully discharged from prison because it may affect society and frighten many people because of the question of what action he will take against society. It establishes a standard of acceptable behaviour and safeguards essential rights, such as life, Liberty, and property[11]. Laws against murder, theft, and assault are all designed to shield us from harm and uphold our rights.
To sum up, criminal law is much more than just rules and punishments. It’s a complex system that strives for fairness, safety, and stability[12]. It acts as a silent protector, allowing society to thrive while maintaining that delicate balance between individual freedom and community security. Criminal law is not that rigid in nature, as it provides a lot of facilities and opportunities to criminals and helps them build their careers in small fields.
CONCLUSION
In the end, the first and foremost role of criminal law is to provide a sense of security and assurance to the victims, families of victims and society that justice prevails against the culprit so that he may not appear and harm the rights and morality of an individual, whether it’s a victim itself or any other person.
Harming someone with the act of assault, robbery, and molestation may sound fun to the offender, but the victim of the criminal’s so-called fun can ruin a precious life of a victim and leave a trauma in their memory, causing a lifetime of pain. To prevent this type of situation, criminal law itself grows and develops in order to maintain social justice and order. So that every individual doesn’t have to go through the same situation.
Criminal law works as a shield of the state and protects individuals regardless of many drawbacks. The assurance can be disruptive in nature, but the departments of criminal law are helping by providing security and justice to each and every single person residing in a piece of land and fulfilling their duties and responsibilities.
Author’s Name: Kripa Bissa (Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Bikaner, Rajasthan)
[1] H.L.A. Harr, ‘The Concept of Law’(3rd edition, OUP 2012)
[2] Andrew Ashworth, *Principles of Criminal Law* 8th edition, OUP 2016)
[3] Cesare Beccaria, *On Crimes and Punishments* (Hackett Publishing 1995)
[4] Ibid.
[5] Nicola Lacey, *State Punishment* (Routledge 1988)
[6] RA Duff, *Punishment, Communication and Community* (OUP 2001)
[7] Ibid
[8] Antony Duff and David Garland (eds) *A Reader on Punishment* (OUP 1994)
[9] Ibid
[10] Glanville Williams, *Textbook of Criminal Law* (2nd edn, Stevens 1983)
[11] Andrew Ashworth and Lucia Zender, *Preventing Justice* (OUP, 2014)
[12] Ibid
