Christianity and types of punishment
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can describe types of punishment and explain Christian and other views on justice and rehabilitation.
Key learning points
- Types of punishment include prison, fines, community service, corporal punishment and the death penalty.
- People disagree on whether prison or community service works better, with some supporting harsher approaches
- Christian teachings stress dignity, forgiveness and helping offenders change.
- Prison chaplains offer spiritual support and work with charities to aid rehabilitation.
- Reformers like Howard and Fry inspired charities that support fair and humane justice.
Keywords
Chaplain - a religious representative who provides spiritual care, support and guidance in places like prisons, hospitals, schools or the armed forces
Punishment - a penalty given to someone for a crime or wrong they have done
Rehabilitation - the process of helping offenders regain skills, change behaviour and reintegrate into society after committing a crime
Common misconception
Prison always helps people change for the better.
Without proper support, prisoners may be more likely to reoffend after release due to negative influences, lack of rehabilitation and poor mental health care.
Teacher tip
Showing clips from documentaries about life in prison would be a helpful way to engage students in debate about the effectiveness of prison as a punishment.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Helping the offender understand why their behaviour was wrong is the aim of .
Q2.What is the main aim of retribution?
Q3.What does protection aim to do?
Q4.What does deterrence try to achieve?
Q5.What is justice mainly about?
Q6.All punishments try to achieve the same thing.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1. is the process of helping offenders change and reintegrate into society after committing a crime.
Q2.In his letter to the Galatians, St Paul said “if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should that person gently.”
Q3.What does Jesus’ response to the woman caught in adultery teach?
Q4.Why do some Christians support prison chaplaincy?
Q5.What is the main focus of the Christian charity PACT?
Q6.Prison always helps people change for the better.
To help you plan your 11 religious education lesson on: Christianity and types of punishment, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 religious education lesson on: Christianity and types of punishment, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 religious education lessons from the Issues of Good and Evil unit, dive into the full secondary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.