Beth Weaver is lecturer at the Glasgow School of Social Work, University of Strathclyde. Here she talks about research she has been working on with Sarah Armstrong (University of Glasgow) entitled 'What the punished think of their punishment'. The research involved speaking with 35 men and women ranging in age from 19 to 55 about their experiences of punishment. The aim was to accurately describe the experience for offenders of doing a short sentence, in prison or the community. Here Beth talks about the key findings from the research and the implications for policy and practice. The research being discussed is available to download here: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/pubs/What-Do-the-Punished-Think-of-Punishment-The-comparative-experience-of-short-term-prison-sentences-and-communitybased-punishments/284, and has been awarded a prize from the Howard League for Penal Reform.