" The focus is on the past crime with the attempt to wipe the slate clean. These ideas largely stem from religious influences on our culture. However, a deeper psychological explanation has been argued to exist, underlying the offenders need for expiration. Guilt is a state of tension which gives rise to a need for the removal of this tension. From the time we are children we are conditioned to expect this relief through punishment. In R v. Williams the defendant was to be punished so that he could expiate his sins, and thus become an accepted member of society again. Whilst society may offer the chance of expiration, it obviously cannot demand it as the desire for true expiration must flow from the defendant himself.
The view that has gained support, whilst theories of punishment such as deterrence and rehabilitation have come under increasing attack, is that we punish criminals primarily because they deserve it. The .
Criminal Justice Act 1991 followed a White Paper which proclaimed that the aim was "better justice through a more consistent approach to sentencing, so that convicted criminals get their 'just deserts.'" Just desert theorists have tended to follow the ideas of Kant, that people deserve to be punished if they have broken the law. Furthermore, all persons owe duties to others not to infringe their rights. Justice and fairness ensure that all persons must bear the consequence of obeying the law equally. Thus punishment is necessary to remove the benefits gained by the offender. The concept of just deserts has attracted criticism as there is the suspicion that "the idea of desert cannot be distinguished from a principle of vengeance or the unappealing assertion that two wrongs somehow make a right." Although, there are two main advantages to desert based punishment. Firstly, it imposes limits on the states power in that excessive exemplary or incapacitative sentences become unacceptable.
