Trinity Church of England High School

Religious Education > Key Stage 4 > Crime and Punishment

EDEXCEL GCSE RS                  RELIGION AND SOCIETY

UNIT TITLE:           RELIGION: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

AIM:    To consider the key issues relating to crime and punishment as outlined in the syllabus.  Students will need to show awareness of one religion, which for our purposes will be Christianity and Islam.

KEY ISSUES AS OUTLINED IN THE SYLLABUS:

• The difference between a sin and a crime.
• The need for law and justice.
• Christian and Muslim attitudes to justice.
• Theories of punishment (deterrence, retribution, reform).
• Christian and Muslim teaching on judgement, forgiveness and punishment.
• A study of a prisoner of conscience imprisoned for his/her religious beliefs, including the reasons for arrest and the effects of the punishment.
• The nature of capital punishment and the non-religious arguments about it.  The attitudes of Christianity and Islam to capital punishment.

TECHNICAL TERMS:

Sin – an act against the will of God

Crime – an act against the law

Law – rules made by Parliament and enforceable by the courts

Justice – due allocation of reward and punishment, the maintenance of what is right

Deterrence – the idea that punishments should be of such a nature that they will put people off (deter) committing crimes

Retribution – the idea that punishments should make criminals pay for what they have done wrong

Reform – the idea that punishments should try to change criminals so they will not commit crimes again

Judgement – the act of judging people and their actions

Punishment – a penalty given for any crime or offence

Capital Punishment – the death penalty for a crime of offence.