Type of paper: Research paper/ thesis   Word count: over 16000 words   Author: Gentiana Petrova   Date: 2017   Location: Pristina, Kosovo   Note: This material should serve only for educational purposes, and any part of the material that is used without being cited will be considered plagiarism, because the sole author of this material is the person mentioned above!   Abstract: In order to protect society from criminality, the state has applied and continues to apply various means and methods that contribute to the protection of the interests of individuals and society, using coercive measures, ie. criminal sanctions against perpetrators of criminal offences. The state’s reaction to criminality and the imposition of criminal penalties or criminal sanctions has evolved over different periods of time from physical and corporal punishments, physical and mental torture as well as death sentences to the perpetrator of the criminal offense.   Contemporary states already undertake other coercive measures such as fines, confiscation of property and imprisonment. In addition to the main punishments, the perpetrators of criminal offenses are also given supplementary and alternative punishments, which aim not only to punish, but also to rehabilitate, re-socialize, re-integrate and re-educate the perpetrator of the criminal offence. In order for these concepts regarding the punishment of the perpetrator of the criminal offense to be implemented in practice and not just put on paper, an analysis of our punishment system must first be made, as well as research into the possibilities for reform and taking concrete steps in this regard. direction.   Currently, in most contemporary states, including the Republic of Kosovo, imprisonment as the main punishment is most often imposed on the perpetrator of the criminal offense. But what is the effect and the key factors that are influencing the imposition of a prison sentence by the courts on the perpetrator of the criminal offense and what are the possibilities of preventing criminality so that it does not come to the imposition of this sentence, all of this will to be treated in this paper.