The primary goal of criminal law is to prevent further offense by convincing the offender that their conduct was wrong. Which of the following objective of criminal law is being discussed here?

rehabilitation

The correct answer is option 1: rehabilitation

Five objectives are widely accepted for enforcement of the criminal law by punishments: Retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and restoration. These objective vary across jurisdictions.

Rehabilitation - Aims at transforming an offender into a valuable member of society. Its primary goal is to prevent further offense by convincing the offender that their conduct was wrong.

Retribution - This theory basically deals with ‘righting of balance’. If a criminal has done a wrong towards a person or property, he needs to be given a penalty in a manner which balances out the wrong done. For example, if a person has committed murder, he can be delivered capital punishment to balance out the suffering caused to the victim and his or her family.

Deterrence - Deterrence serves as a major tool in maintaining the general law and order in the society, especially from the perspective of Crime. Criminal acts are penalized so as to deter individuals from repeating it or even entering into it in the first place.

Incapacitation - The objective of this theory is to segregate the criminals from the rest of the society. For the crimes committed, they suffer a kind of banishment by staying in prisons and in some cases, they are also subject to capital punishment.

Restoration - This is a victim-oriented theory of punishment. The goal is to repair, through state authority, any injury inflicted upon the victim by the offender. For example, one who embezzles will be required to repay the amount improperly acquired. Restoration is commonly combined with other main goals of criminal justice and is closely related to concepts in the civil law, i.e., returning the victim to his or her original position before the injury.