Support for the belief that criminal behaviour was amenable to treatment served different purposes: for developing psychiatry it offered a module of power to be exploited whereas for the State it was a convenient disguise for the infliction of pain which was the real intention of punishment. Having served its purpose the treatment approach is being abandoned in favour of a philosophy of just deserts which is more acceptable in the present political climate.
对发展中的精神病学而言，它提供了一种可供利用的权力模式；而对国家来说，它是施加痛苦的便利伪装，而施加痛苦才是惩罚的真正意图。在达到其目的后，治疗方法正被摒弃，转而支持一种在当前政治环境中更易被接受的“罪有应得”理念。
