The Problem of Punishment

Abstract

In this book, David Boonin examines the problem of punishment, and particularly the problem of explaining why it is morally permissible for the state to treat those who break the law in ways that would be wrong to treat those who do not? Boonin argues that there is no satisfactory solution to this problem and that the practice of legal punishment should therefore be abolished. Providing a detailed account of the nature of punishment and the problems that it generates, he offers a comprehensive and critical survey of the various solutions that have been offered to the problem and concludes by considering victim restitution as an alternative to punishment. Written in a clear and accessible style, The Problem of Punishment will be of interest to anyone looking for a critical introduction to the subject as well as to those already familiar with it.

Robots, law and the retribution gap

“…The crucial concept in this premise is that of retributive blame. Here, I adopt a standard account of retribution and retributive blame (Moore 1993;Boonin 2008;Zimmerman 2011;Kramer 2011). I view retributivism as the belief that agents should be punished, in proportion to their level of wrongdoing, because they deserve to be punished.…”

Are There Expressive Constraints on Incarceration?

“…This account of Feinberg's position leaves wide open questions about the justification of punishment: questions which have been pressed by David Boonin among others (Boonin 2008). Boonin argues that as a matter of conceptual necessity punishment involves intentionally harming others (Boonin 2008: 12-17).…”

“…Those who have views of this sort are well-placed to argue that forms of punishment which undermine the offender's status as a recipient of the appropriate form of communication, or their capacity to respond to that communication in an appropriate way, undermine their own putative justification. Duff, for example, regards punishment as being aimed at communicating with an offender in such a way as to elicit remorse and regret-with the eventual goal being an offender's reintegration into a political community (Duff 2001, as discussed and criticized by Boonin 2008;Hanna 2008;Wringe 2013;Glasgow 2015;Wringe 2016, Wringe 2017. Such remorse and regret would be undermined by treating an offender in ways which undermine their sense of themselves as a moral agent, for regret of the right sort presupposes that one see oneself as such (Cochrane 2017).…”

Rethinking expressive theories of punishment: why denunciation is a better bet than communication or pure expression

“…I note that one referee contested this reading of Duff's position, on grounds which I find unpersuasive (see footnote 15 for detailed discussion). But I should note that whatever the upshot of that textual discussion, my reading of Duff is not an eccentric one: it is shared by-among others- , Boonin (2008), various contributors to Cruft et al (2011) and . Nor is this a strawman position: those who adopt this reading of Duff's views typically take it to be one of the more impressive forms of expressivism.…”

“…Duff (2001), Metz (2007), Bennett (2008) are especially concerned with justifying punishment in liberal states. For skepticism about expressivism see Sayre-McCord (2001), Boonin (2008) and , discussed in Wringe (2013) and Tadros (2011) discussed below. 3 See respectively Duff (1986Duff ( , 2001, Hampton (1988), .…”