Crime & Punishment (AQA GCSE Religious Studies A (8062))

Revision Note

Angela Yates

Written by: Angela Yates

Reviewed by: Bridgette Barrett

Updated on

What are crime & punishment?

  • Crime is any action which breaks the law and is punishable by law

  • Punishment is something done to someone who has been found guilty of breaking the law

  • The UK legal system involves the use of magistrates and courts to find offenders guilty

  • The courts decide whether a person is innocent or guilty

  • They impose a suitable sentence as punishment if an offender is found guilty

    • The most serious offences include murder and rape, which carry a life sentence of 25 years in prison

    • Less serious offences have less serious sentences, which may involve community service, rather than a prison sentence

  • In the UK the most serious punishment is life imprisonment

    • Under no circumstances can the UK impose a sentence intended to cause physical harm (corporal punishment) or the death penalty

  • In some parts of the world, the death penalty is permitted

    • This includes some Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, which follow Shari’ah law

    • Shari’ah law also allows punishment that can cause physical harm, such as caning the offender

Good & evil intentions & actions

  • Actions that obey the law are generally seen as ‘good’ actions

  • However, there is more to a good action than staying within the law

    • Actions that demonstrate love and generosity, such as giving money or time to charity, are not done because the person is following the law

    • There is no law saying that a person must act in this way.

      • These types of actions are seen as good

  • Many Christians and Muslims will consider certain actions to be wrong even though they are legal in the UK

    • For example, they may think that adultery is wrong, although there are no laws to stop this

  • Evil actions are those actions which cause suffering or even death for people

    • These actions are often against the law, for example, murder, abuse, or acts of terrorism

  • There are also actions that Christians and Muslims might consider evil, even though they are not illegal and cannot be prosecuted under UK law

  • Evil actions can be linked with the devil (Satan for Christians, Iblis for Muslims)

    • However, when religious believers speak of evil actions, they generally mean actions that are considered extremely immoral, rather than being linked to the devil

The difference between intention and action

  • There is a distinction between intention and action

  • Sometimes people may act in such a way that while the intention is good, the action itself is bad

    • For example, telling a lie to a friend to avoid hurting their feelings

      • The intention is good, but the action could be said to be bad

    • For example, killing a dictator who is persecuting people

      • The intention is good, to stop the persecution, but the action is still killing someone

  • In the UK, intentions can be taken into account when determining how severe a sentence should be as punishment for a crime

    • Some people disagree with this and think the determining factor ought to be the effect the crime has had on its victim or victims

Christian responses to evil intentions & actions

  • Many Christians would call evil actions any actions which go against God’s teachings

    • They would call this a sin

  • People are not perfect and tend to do wrong because of original sin

    • Original sin comes from the disobedience of the first humans, Adam and Eve, as described in the book of Genesis in the Bible

  • Most Christians would say that there is no such thing as a purely evil person

    • Although they make mistakes, humans are not evil, because everyone is made in the image of God

  • If humans are created by God in His image and He describes His creation as ‘good’, something must go very wrong for people to commit an action that is truly evil

    • The belief is that this must stem from some kind of psychological illness

    • The most appropriate response would be to help them overcome the illness while they undergo punishment for their actions

  • Christians emphasise the intention behind people’s actions, because of Jesus’ teaching that people’s actions come from their inner thoughts

‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come — sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’ (Mark 7:20-23)

  • It is important to do good actions for the right reasons.

    • A Christian must act with good intentions towards others, not to seek glory or praise for themselves

    • God sees into their hearts and will reward them, even if they do not get rewarded in this life

    • Jesus explained this, saying

‘But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.’ (Matthew 6:3-5)

  • In his letter to the Romans, St Paul taught

‘To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.' (Romans 2:7-8)

  • In all their intentions and actions, Christians should be guided by the rule

    that ‘in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you’ (Matthew 7:12)

Muslim responses to evil intentions & actions

  • Muslims also believe that humans are not intrinsically evil

  • Like Christians, Muslims believe that humans are created by God and they make mistakes

  • Muslims also believe that evil came into the world at the time of the first man, Adam

    • Muslims believe that God created a spirit called a jinn, but that he was cursed for refusing to bow to Adam

    • As a result, the jinn became the being known as Iblis or Satan, who spends his time trying to tempt humans to do wrong, rather than follow Allah’s ways

  • Muslims would say that when someone commits a very evil action, they are giving into temptation but not that they are intrinsically bad people

  • In UK law, the person’s motives and intentions are considered when deciding what their sentence should be if found guilty

  • In Shari’ah law, the most important factor is that people should be punished for the severity of their actions against the religious values that have been breached 

    • This means that a person’s intentions are very important in determining the severity of their sentence

    • Muslims would say that intentions are so important that if a person has serious thoughts about committing a crime, this is as serious as actually committing the action

    • This teaching comes from the Hadith, where it is made clear that a person’s intentions (niyyah), as well as their actions, are considered by Allah on the Day of Judgement

‘All actions are judged by motives, and each person will be rewarded according to their intention’ (Hadith)

  • The Hadith also lays out the importance of both good deeds and intentions:

‘Whoever intends to perform a good deed but does not do it, then Allah will record it as a complete good deed. If he intends to do it and does it, then Allah will record it as ten good deeds, up to seven hundred times as much, or even more. If he intends to do an evil deed and does not do it, then Allah will record for him one complete good deed. If he does it, then Allah will record for him a single evil deed.’ (Hadith) 

  • The judgement will be like ‘weighing’ intentions and actions on ‘scales of justice’, according to the Qur’an

‘Those whose good deeds are heavy on the scales will be the ones to prosper, and those whose good deeds are light will be the ones who have lost their souls through their wrongful rejection of our messages.’ (Qur’an 7:8-9)

  • Therefore throughout their lives, Muslims will try to do good actions (halal), prompted by good intentions, and avoid evil actions (haram or forbidden), with the hope of gaining their eternal reward in Paradise (Al-Jannah)

Worked Example

Give two examples of when a bad action may have good intentions

(2 marks)

One example is telling a lie to a friend to avoid hurting their feelings. The act of lying is bad, but the friend’s intention is good (1 mark)

Another example is an impoverished parent stealing food from a shop to feed their children. The act of theft is bad, but the parent has the good intention of trying to care for their children (1 marks)

Examiner Tips and Tricks

You may be asked to evaluate a statement such as ‘Intentions are more important than actions.’ 

There is a lot to consider when thinking about good and evil actions and intentions. You will need to provide evidence for both sides, so think about examples such as those in the answer above to help you support the idea that good intentions are the most important factor. Make a list of ideas and teachings from Christianity and Islam that you could use in your answer.

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Angela Yates

Author: Angela Yates

Expertise: Religious Studies

Angela graduated with a first-class degree in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Manchester. After completing a PGCE and CCRS, she taught RE for around fifteen years before becoming a full-time writer and educational content creator. Angela is passionate about creating Religious Education resources to enable students to achieve their full potential.

Bridgette Barrett

Author: Bridgette Barrett

Expertise: Geography Lead

After graduating with a degree in Geography, Bridgette completed a PGCE over 25 years ago. She later gained an MA Learning, Technology and Education from the University of Nottingham focussing on online learning. At a time when the study of geography has never been more important, Bridgette is passionate about creating content which supports students in achieving their potential in geography and builds their confidence.