Honor and Revenge: A Theory of Punishment [electronic resource] /
Kaufman, Whitley R.P.author.
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.
Description based upon print version of record.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-199) and index.
Chapter One: The Problem of Punishment.- Chapter Two: Punishment as Crime Prevention.- Chapter Three:  Can Retributive Punishment Be Justified? -- Chapter Four: The Mixed Theory of Punishment -- Chapter Five:  Retribution and Revenge -- Chapter Six: What Is The Purpose of Retribution? -- Chapter Seven: Making Sense of Honor.- Chapter Eight: Is Punishment Justified? -- Index.
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.
Political science.
Law-Philosophy.
Law.
Criminology.
Philosophy of Law.
Theories of Law, Philosophy of Law, Legal History.
Criminology and Criminal Justice, general.
Law and philosophy library