Punishment

The moment one gets conscious, they are presented with some sort of parental entity. They are more or less there for you, and they educate you. Tell you whats right or wrong and make sure you don't missbehave. Well, if you do missbehave, you better don't though, you get punished. Something you enjoy gets taken away, or maybe, you have to do something you don't like. Or you get hurt, physically or verbally.

Purpose

Punishments are an educating measure. The working is pretty simple: if you are caught doing something you shouldn't do, you get punished. This still applies in the adult world, for example a speeding ticket is also a punishment.
But what makes them so effective?
Fear. The punishment isn't nice, you loose some money you could have spent on drugs, or a nice piece of clothing. Or you loose you freedom, fun, and many other things. Punishments hurt, always. Is that really a good method to teach something?

The issue

Ruling by fear, isn't really a great method. Having fear isn't a good feeling, one feels not good. But, other than that, do the rules still get followed? Yes, maybe. Probably because they think it is the right thing to follow them regardless of the consequence of not doing that. Or because the punishment is so big its not worth to break the rule, but that's more the exception than anything else. But, sometimes rules still don't get followed. Simply, in a way one doesn't get caught and therefore no punishment will happen.
Well, they do not really work, right?
And, what if the punishment is wrong?

Example - Fines

Let's look at some reasons of why fines are given:

• Misread or missed a sign
• Something happened in between (think of an emergency situation) therefore wasn't able to move the car in time
• Was speeding slightly and didn't notice the driving speed
• Can't afford the parking ticket and hoped no cop would pass by
• Im here for only few minutes, and that shouldnt annoy anyone. In case I am close and can always move the car
• …

Do u notice something? No one really did it on purpose, but it was always caused by an external factor not in their control. Is it really morally correct to punish for that?
Is it really correct to punish on something that wasn't even done on purpose, or maybe didn't know it was wrong?

An alternative

Educating. If someone understands something, they will do the right thing. And how do you educate properly? By knowledge. Make understand, in a completely neutral way. It should be always one own choice whether to believe or not what's being told, make their own opinions. Think about it themselves - and very likely the conclusion will be the same. Or maybe not, for different reasons: maybe they are okay with the negative helth effects of alcohol consumption and think they are worth the reward, while you maybe aren't. Only if they don't have to fear the consequences of a punishment, don't have to fear pressure from others for having a different opinion, they will be truly able to choose for themselves. And at the end, if everyone is given the right knowledge they will eventually all come to a similar conclusion of what is morally okay and not okay to do, without the need of fear.
And, trust your fellow entities to do the right thing.