Actually, I was rarely punished more than once for things I did. (I wasn't put in "time-out" either, I got my ass kicked, and I learned damn well from it.) The only thing I did more than once, prettymuch, was being lazy with my schoolwork. Quite often I wouldn't do my homework or study or anything, and even though I made great grades in class, my lack of motivation out of class brought down my average something fierce. So I was beat, grounded, etc. quite often for that. One time I was made to not step out of my room except to go to the bathroom, school, or come into the kitchen to make the only thing my parents allowed me to eat for that time, which was a bologna sandwich. And I didn't have a TV or games or a computer or anything like that in my room, either.

The point is, even though there's obviously a difference between children and grown adults (or, rather, there should be), punishment serves mainly as a deterrant for crime. As in "If I do (whatever crime), I'll have to go through (whatever punishment), and I don't want to do (punishment), so I won't do (crime).

ShunNakamura makes a good point--as long as the punishment effects the criminal, it will serve as a deterrant. Some kids may not give a damn if they have to stand in a corner for a couple minutes and not get attention paid to them, but some kids are absolutely crushed if they have their games, computer, freedom, etc. taken away from them. Sometimes different types of punishment effect different types of people. The only problem is that it would be difficult to implement a system like that, plus, as was pointed out, some would consider it "inhumane"... I guarantee you, if we started caning people like they do in Singapore, we'd have a hell of a lot less crime. But, obviously, that's not really an option. The only thing we can do is make our prisons tougher.