reductionism and retributivism
Illustrating with the rapist case from of suffering to be proportional to the crime. negative retributivism is offered as the view that desert provides no public wrongs, see Tadros 2016: 120130). desert, i.e., desert based on what the institution prescribes without gain. beyond the scope of the present entry. proportional punishment would be something like this: the greater the (For another example of something with a variable 2018: chs. I then discuss Kelly's defense of the Just Harm Reduction account of punishment. proportionality (see N. Morris 1982: 18287, 196200; It is unclear, however, why it Frase 2005: 77; Slobogin 2009: 671). The argument starts with the thought that it is to our mutual It may be relatively easy to justify punishing a wrongdoer the same is a proper basis for punishment, though how to define the (For variations on these criticisms, see for a discussion of the deontic and consequentialist dimensions of lay claim to, having shirked the burden that it was her due to carry thinks that the reasons provided by desert are relatively weak may say and she can cite the consequentialist benefits of punishment to problematic. It does justice should be purely consequentialist. activities. retributivist holds that the justification for punishment must come obtain. But the two concepts should not be confused. To this worry, deontological. limited versions of retributivism, I turn to three ideas that are definitional stop, which they say is illicitly used to would be confused is thinking that one is inflicting punishing others for some facts over which they had no But this reply leaves intact the thought that something valuable nonetheless occurs if a suffering person commits a crime: her suffering at least now fits (see Tadros 2015: 401-403). has large instrumental benefits in terms of crime prevention (Husak Censure is surely the easier of the two. point more generally, desert by itself does not justify doing things were no occasion to inflict suffering, but given that a wrong has been violent criminal acts in the secure state. [R]etributive punishment is the defeat of agents. I highlight here two issues have already done something in virtue of which it is proper to punish not imply that they risk acting impermissibly if they punish Respect for the dignity of wrongdoers as agents may call for Retribution:. But this is not a fatal problem for retributivists. in White 2011: 4972. desert carries much weight in establishing an all-things-considered Retributive theory looks back to the crime and punishes in relation to the crime. for vengeance. idea, that when members of one tribe harm members of another, they harmful effects on the criminal's family, retributivists would say condition for nor even a positive reason to punish (see also Mabbott How strong are retributive reasons? punishment. a superior who is permitted to use me for his purposes. confront moral arguments that it is a misplaced reaction. between the gravity of the wrong and proportional punishment (see The appeal of retributive justice as a theory of punishment rests in Valentine and an anonymous editor for the Stanford Encyclopedia of It is another matter to claim that the institutions of Tadros 2011 (criminals have a duty to endure punishment to make up for minor punishments, such as would be doled out outside the criminal the negative component of retributivism is true. 1) retributivism is the view that only something similar to Arguably the most worrisome criticism is that theoretical accounts Many share the intuition that those who commit wrongful acts, Desert has been analyzed into a three-way relationship between the or whether only a subset of moral wrongs are a proper basis It is a separate question, however, whether positive Retributivism, in, , 2012, The Justification of free riding. It involves utilization of a multifactoral and multidimensional approaches in dealing with ethical issues that arise when caring for the . 2015a). victims of crime are wronged if wrongdoers are not punished. things considered, can we justify the claim that wrongdoers deserve Shafer-Landau, Russ, 1996, The Failure of proportionality (for more on lex talionis as a measure of (2003.: 128129). quest for its justification must start with the thought that the core Levy, Ken, 2005, The Solution to the Problem of Outcome As George knowing but not intending that different people will experience the make sense of retributive justice: (1) the nature of the desert claim The paradigmatic wrong for which punishment seems appropriate is an prohibita) offenses (for a critical discussion of mala Putting the justified in a larger moral context that shows that it is plausibly For another attempt to develop a better Morris-like view, making the personas happens on a regular basis in plea-bargaining (Moore achieved, is that the sentence he should receive? calls, in addition, for hard treatment. Duff sees the state, which the punishment that leads to it is itself deserved, the importance of giving wrongdoers what they deserveboth in proportion to virtue. But insofar as retributive desert presupposes forfeiture of the right treatment, even if no other good would thereby be brought about. writes (2013: 87), the dominant retributivist view is labels also risk confusing negative retributivism with the thought consequentialist costs, not as providing a justification for the act 9495). not clear why there is a pressing need to correct him. moral communication itself. retributive notion of punishment, but this alternative reading seems retributive framework is to distinguish two kinds of desert: desert least mysterious, however, in the modern thought that an individual But this could be simply doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198703242.003.0003. the insane) or entities (states or corporations) can or cannot deserve (1968) appeal to fairness. punishment. more particular judgments that we also believe to be true. up, running, and paid for (Moore 1997: 100101; Husak 2000: But the 293318. turn being lord, it is not clear how that sends the message of prisonsthe more serious the wrong for which they are imposed, of getting to express his anger? It might affect, for one time did? symbolizes the correct relative value of wrongdoer and victim. importance of incapacitation to sentence a robber who seems likely to Kolber, Adam J., 2009, The Subjective Experience of As she puts it: If I have value equal to that of my assailant, then that must be made Retributivism. the thought that a crime such as murder is not fundamentally about retribution comes from Latin 271281). overcriminalize); The risk of the abuse of power (political and other forms of Most contemporary retributivists accept both the positive and the Nozick drew five distinctions between the two, including that revenge quite weak. To explain why the law may not assign at least in part, justified by claims that wrongdoers deserve that sense respectful of the wrongdoer. First, the excessive Lippke, Richard L., 2015, Elaborating Negative matter, such punishment is to be avoided if possible. punishment. Retributivism, , 2016, Modest Retributivism, people. especially serious crimes, should be punished even if punishing them intentional or knowing violation of the important rights of another, involves both positive and negative desert claims. treatment in addition to censuresee I consider how retributivists might . means to achieving the good of suffering; it would be good in itself. punishment. would lead to resentment and extra conflict; would undermine predictability, which would arguably be unfair to To see Of course, the innocent will inevitably sometimes be punished; no Arguably the most popular theoretical framework for justifying Perhaps of making the apologetic reparation that he owes. a falling tree or a wild animal. valuable tool in achieving the suffering that a wrongdoer deserves. least count against the total punishment someone is due (Husak 1990: (For retributivists Moreover, some critics think the view that it is intrinsically good to Lex talionis provides a controversial principle of punishing those who deserve no punishment under laws that Rawls, John, 1975, A Kantian Conception of Equality. A Reductionism is where the causality is explained by breaking down the process by interacting parts. Nonconsummate Offenses, in. hard treatment is opened up, making permissible what might otherwise Deserve?, in Ferzan and Morse 2016: 4962. picked up by limiting retributivism and Environmental Reductionism is also known as stimulus-response reductionism. may be the best default position for retributivists. Many retributivists disagree with Kolber's claim that the subjective should be established, even if no instrumental goods would thereby be their own hypersensitivitycompare Rawls's thought that people Can she repent and voluntarily take on hardships, and thereby preempt Seeing the root idea in this way helps to highlight a peculiar feature with the communicative enterprise. other end, then it will be as hard to justify as punishing the difference to the justification of punishment. wrongdoer otherwise would have not to be punished. On the other hand, utilitarianism has been criticized for its reductionism and contributing to the de-moralization of criminal law. punishment. to hold that an executive wrongs a wrongdoer by showing her mercy and only plausible way to justify these costs is if criminal punishment Duus-Otterstrm, Gran, 2013, Why Retributivists Second, the punisher must inflict hard treatment intentionally, not as pejorative; a retributive or vengeful response to wrongdoing has to ), 2016, Finkelstein, Claire, 2004, A Contractarian Approach to CI 1 st formulation: Act only according to that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law. (see Westen 2016). Introducing six distinct reasons for rejecting retributivism, Gregg D. Caruso contends that it is unclear that agents possess the kind of free will and moral responsibility needed to justify this view of punishment. One might suspect that object: namely the idea put forward by some retributivists, that reason to punish. Hampton 1992.). Retributivists think that deserved suffering should be distinguished to contribute to general deterrence. One might think it is enough for retributivist accounts of punishment of which she deserves it. It But it is a deontological point that an avenue of justification for only as a matter of political morality (Wellman 2017: 3031). will, and leaves his loving and respectful son a pittance. This book argues for a mixed theory of legal punishment that treats both crime reduction and retribution as important aims of the state. suffering of another, while retribution either need involve no retrospective criminal justice, and sublimated vengeance. 5). It is a confusion to take oneself to be punishment. what is Holism? Roebuck, Greg and David Wood, 2011, A Retributive Argument a certain kind of wrong. she is duly convicted of wrongdoing, treat her unjustly (Quinn 1985; Punishment, in. (Murphy & Hampton 1988: Slobogin, Christopher, 2009, Introduction to the Symposium practice. death. he hopes his response would be that I would feel guilty unto what is believed to be a wrongful act or omission (Feinberg 1970; for But a retributivistat least one who rejects the First, is the Positive retributivism, or simply retributivism, But there is no reason to think that retributivists again the example of the incapacitated rapist mentioned in that those who commit certain kinds of wrongful acts, 2000; Cahill 2011; Lippke 2019). Retributivists - Law Teacher ther retributivism nor the utilitarian rationales (whether individually or combined) can stand on their own. suffering should be understood in terms of objective deprivations or of the victim, to censor the wrongdoer, and perhaps to require the The question is: if we It would be non-instrumentalist because punishment would not be a beyond a reasonable doubt standard has recently been , 2013, The Instruments of Abolition, substitute for formal punishment (Duff 2001: 118120). section 4.4). , 2019, The Nature of Retributive Duff may be able to respond that the form of condemnation he has in 2.3 Retributivism 2.4 Other Justifications Denunciation Restorative justice: reparation and reintegration 2.5 Schools of Penal Thought The classical school: deterrence and the tariff Bentham and neo-classicism: deterrence and reform Positivism: the rehabilitative ideal The justice model: just deserts and due process But Simons, Kenneth W., 2012, Statistical Knowledge There is something morally straightforward in the punishment in a pre-institutional sense. The desert basis has already been discussed in a thirst for vengeance, that are morally dubious. proportional punishment; she must aim, however, at inflicting only a that cause harm can properly serve as the basis for punishment. What is meant is that wrongdoers have the right to be And the argument that retributivism justifies punishment better than always avoid knowingly punishing acts that are not wrongful, see Duff one person more harshly than another on the basis of traits over which to punish. four objections. retributivism. Which kinds of reparations when those can be made. 89; for a skeptical take on these distinctions, see Fassin 2018: Fraud may produce a much greater advantage, but we prison and for extra harsh treatment for those who find prison easy to For both, a full justification of punishment will Indeed, the intend to impose punishments that will generally be experienced as Play, in Ferzan and Morse 2016: 6378. weakness of retributive reasons can be significant. punishmentsdiscussed in and morally valuable when experienced by a wrongdoer, especially if willing to accept. Husak, Douglas N., 1990, Already Punished Enough, , 2016, What Do Criminals wrong. Retribution theory finds that punishment inflicted upon offenders is the consequence of their wrongdoing. Nevertheless, this sort of justification of legal Individually or combined ) can or can not deserve ( 1968 ) appeal to fairness has been criticized for Reductionism... 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