Responsibility, Punishment, and Predominant Retributivism
David O. Brink
Abstract
Abstract Punishment combines blame and sanction. This chapter contrasts forward-looking and backward-looking rationales for punishment, arguing that punishment presupposes the backward-looking principle that its target is responsible for wrongdoing and deserving of blame and sanction. If so, retributivism must be at least part of the truth about punishment. Some form of retributivism is defensible, once we clarify misconceptions about retributivism. This leaves a choice between pure retributivism and a mixed conception that includes retributive elements. That choice is best resolved in favor of a mixed conception in which retributive elements predominate.
Topics & Concepts
Retributive justiceBlamePunishment (psychology)WrongdoingCriminologyLaw and economicsPsychologySocial psychologyLawSociologyPolitical scienceEconomic JusticeFree Will and AgencyWar, Ethics, and JustificationPsychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment