Punishment In Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

Punishment given to offenders acts as an example and deters others from committing the same crime. Punishment serves as proof and as a model to the rest of society that criminal behavior will have negative consequences and can be seen as an educational tool. When using punishment as a threat, warning or intimidation tactic for the prevention of evil, it is formally referred to as general deterrence. This punishment tactic “stems from the perceived threat or fear of the inherent elements of punishment itself, not through some indirect process. Examples of general deterrence from fear of direct sanctions are refraining from speeding for fear of a fine or in my argument, refraining from a felony for fear of incarceration” (Williams & Hawkins,

It is important to know that often the punishment received is not worth the crime committed. In Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix we see that Harry receives detention from Professor Umbridge for speaking up against her teaching in defense against the dark arts class. Harry does this because her new teaching method does not require the students to practice any of the spells themselves. They are only allowed to write about them. Harry is upset by this as he knows Voldemort and the death eaters are gaining strength. Harry challenges Professor Umbridge’s teachings because he wants to be able to fight back against the death eaters. Umbridge continuously dismissed these comments to the point where she gives Harry a detention and deducts points from Gryffindor. During his detention Harry is not only incarcerated but is also inflicted with physical pain. As he is instructed to write “I must not tell lies” (Rowling, 266) the words are left in the paper as well as “the back of Harry’s right hand, cutting into his skin as though traced by a scalpel” (Rowling, 267). Harry realizes that this punishment was not worth speaking up to

Punishment that prevents the same person from committing another crime is labeled as specific deterrence. Specific deterrence works in two ways. First, the “convicts are restrained” (Van Den Haag, 769), as they are physically placed into jail in order to prevent him/her from committing another crime in society. Second, the incarceration is designed to be so unpleasant that it will discourage the offender from repeating the criminal act upon his/her release. Here punishment serves as a deterrent for the offender. Punishment is meant to teach a lesson. In addition, it is meant to have the offender realize that what they have done and that the crime they committed was not worth these consequences. Upon release, the previous offender will now be discouraged from performing any criminal acts out of fear of being locked in prison again. The unpleasant experiences in prison should be enough to stop him/her from committing any future crimes. This is seen within Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. Here, Marcus Flint, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle are caught by Professor McGonagall for attempting to sabotage Harry and the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The four students dressed up as dementors to scare Harry and possibly distract him from catching the snitch. These boys also chose the dementors because they knew that Harry was affected by them. As Harry fought what he thought