Theme E: Religion, Crime and Punishment
What's covered
Key facts
Aims of Punishment: Retribution, Deterrence, Reformation
Buddhists view reformation positively: karma and mindful practice can transform an offender's character and reduce future harm.
Sources of Wisdom and Authority: Key Quotes
In Matthew 5:38-39 Jesus quotes "eye for an eye" but tells his followers not to resist an evil person and to "turn the other cheek", replacing retribution with non-retaliation.
Ethical Arguments About Capital Punishment
Amnesty International campaigns against capital punishment worldwide: its 2023 report found 53 countries still retain it in law.
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is letting go of resentment and choosing not to seek revenge against someone who has wronged you.
Good and Evil Intentions and Actions
Mainstream Christian teaching, following Augustine, sees evil as the absence of good (privation) rather than a force equal to God; it is connected to sin, the fall and redemption.
Hate Crimes, Theft, Murder
The Christian response to murder is unequivocal condemnation: life is sacred, God-given, and the Sixth Commandment is absolute.
Reasons for Crime: Poverty, Upbringing, Mental Health, Addiction, Greed, Hate
Addiction can drive crime when people commit theft or other offences to fund their habit; UK Home Office estimates a significant share of acquisitive crime is drug-related.
The Death Penalty
Capital punishment is the formal term for execution by the state as a legal penalty.
Treatment of Criminals: Prison, Corporal Punishment, Community Service
Many religious people support community service because it allows reformation while also benefiting the community harmed by crime.
Aims of Punishment: Retribution, Deterrence, Reformation
Many Christians favour reformation because forgiveness and the offer of second chances reflect Jesus' teaching (e.g. the woman caught in adultery, John 8).
Practice questions with answers
A taste of the 96 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
What does the Old Testament 'eye for an eye' express?
- •Pure rehabilitation through care
- •Removal of the offender forever
- ✓Retribution: proportionate punishment
- •Total mercy for all offenders
What is capital punishment?
- •Banishment from the country
- ✓Execution as a legal punishment
- •Life imprisonment with no parole
- •Punishment by public flogging
What does Jesus teach about forgiveness in the Lord's Prayer?
- •Forgive only after revenge
- •Forgive only family members ever
- •Forgive only once a year
- ✓Forgive us as we forgive others
Why do intentions matter in religious ethics?
- •Children's intentions never count
- •Only criminals have any intentions
- •Required only in modern UK law
- ✓Reveal moral character behind actions
In the Protestant and Jewish numbering of the Ten Commandments, which commandment forbids murder?
- •The First Commandment
- •The Fourth Commandment
- ✓The Sixth Commandment
- •The Tenth Commandment
How might poverty lead to crime?
- •Crime is required by poverty law
- ✓Desperation to provide for basic needs
- •Poverty has no link to crime ever
- •Wealthy people never commit crime
Three minutes a day. Knowledge that sticks.
Practise all 96 Theme E: Religion, Crime and Punishment questions with spaced repetition, so what you revise today is still there in the exam. Free to use, no card needed.