A Rationale for Punishment

Because problems concerning punishment arise at many intellectual levels, there is no one question or set of questions about punishment to be answered. I propose to address what I take to be some of the issues about punishment which are crucial for moral and social philosophy. I shall consider in turn the questions: What is the moral basis for punishment?; By whom is punishment justifiably imposed?; and, What kinds and degrees of punishment are justifiable? I shall then consider briefly what the principles reached mean both for ideal institutions and for the evaluation of our own current conditions.

Volume 4, Number 2 (1980)