Justifying Legal Punishment

1997-11 Law

Author : Igor Primoratz
Release : 1997-11
Genre : Law
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 83X/5 ( reviews)

Book Synopsis Justifying Legal Punishment by : Igor Primoratz

Download or read book Justifying Legal Punishment written by Igor Primoratz. This book was released on 1997-11. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the philosophy of punishment is dominated by utilitarian and "mixed" theories, this study, written in the analytic tradition but also drawing on the views of Hegel, argues for a purely retributive view: all the main questions facing a theory of punishment are answered in terms of justice and desert, without any concessions to social expediency.

Punishment

2022-02-08 Philosophy

Author : A. John Simmons
Release : 2022-02-08
Genre : Philosophy
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 856/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Punishment by : A. John Simmons

Download or read book Punishment written by A. John Simmons. This book was released on 2022-02-08. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The problem of justifying legal punishment has been at the heart of legal and social philosophy from the very earliest recorded philosophical texts. However, despite several hundred years of debate, philosophers have not reached agreement about how legal punishment can be morally justified. That is the central issue addressed by the contributors to this volume. All of the essays collected here have been published in the highly respected journal Philosophy & Public Affairs. Taken together, they offer not only significant proposals for improving established theories of punishment and compelling arguments against long-held positions, but also ori-ginal and important answers to the question, "How is punishment to be justified?" Part I of this collection, "Justifications of Punishment," examines how any practice of punishment can be morally justified. Contributors include Jeffrie G. Murphy, Alan H. Goldman, Warren Quinn, C. S. Nino, and Jean Hampton. The papers in Part II, "Problems of Punishment," address more specific issues arising in established theories. The authors are Martha C. Nussbaum, Michael Davis, and A. John Simmons. In the final section, "Capital Punishment," contributors discuss the justifiability of capital punishment, one of the most debated philosophical topics of this century. Essayists include David A. Conway, Jeffrey H. Reiman, Stephen Nathanson, and Ernest van den Haag.

Honor and Revenge: A Theory of Punishment

2012-08-28 Philosophy

Author : Whitley R.P. Kaufman
Release : 2012-08-28
Genre : Philosophy
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 450/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Honor and Revenge: A Theory of Punishment by : Whitley R.P. Kaufman

Download or read book Honor and Revenge: A Theory of Punishment written by Whitley R.P. Kaufman. This book was released on 2012-08-28. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the problem of justifying the institution of criminal punishment. It examines the “paradox of retribution”: the fact that we cannot seem to reject the intuition that punishment is morally required, and yet we cannot (even after two thousand years of philosophical debate) find a morally legitimate basis for inflicting harm on wrongdoers. The book comes at a time when a new “abolitionist” movement has arisen, a movement that argues that we should give up the search for justification and accept that punishment is morally unjustifiable and should be discontinued immediately. This book, however, proposes a new approach to the retributive theory of punishment, arguing that it should be understood in its traditional formulation that has been long forgotten or dismissed: that punishment is essentially a defense of the honor of the victim. Properly understood, this can give us the possibility of a legitimate moral justification for the institution of punishment.

A Theory of Legal Punishment

2021-05-05 Law

Author : Matthew C. Altman
Release : 2021-05-05
Genre : Law
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 345/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis A Theory of Legal Punishment by : Matthew C. Altman

Download or read book A Theory of Legal Punishment written by Matthew C. Altman. This book was released on 2021-05-05. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues for a mixed theory of legal punishment that treats both crime reduction and retribution as important aims of the state. A central question in the philosophy of law is why the state’s punishment of its own citizens is justified. Traditionally, two theories of punishment have dominated the field: consequentialism and retributivism. According to consequentialism, punishment is justified when it maximizes positive outcomes. According to retributivism, criminals should be punished because they deserve it. This book recognizes the strength of both positions. According to the two-tiered model, the institution of punishment and statutory penalties, as set by the legislature, are justified based on their costs and benefits, in terms of deterrence and rehabilitation. The law exists to preserve the public order. Criminal courts, by contrast, determine who is punished and how much based on what offenders deserve. The courts express the community’s collective sense of resentment at being wronged. This book supports the two-tiered model by showing that it accords with our moral intuitions, commonly held (compatibilist) theories of freedom, and assumptions about how the extent of our knowledge affects our obligations. It engages classic and contemporary work in the philosophy of law and explains the theory’s advantages over competing approaches from retributivists and other mixed theorists. The book also defends consequentialism against a longstanding objection that the social sciences give us little guidance regarding which policies to adopt. Drawing on recent criminological research, the two-tiered model can help us to address some of our most pressing social issues, including the death penalty, drug policy, and mass incarceration. This book will be of interest to philosophers, legal scholars, policymakers, and social scientists, especially criminologists, economists, and political scientists.

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