Definitions

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  • noun A philosophy of law that criminals should be punished (retribution) for the harm they have caused.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • It is worth mentioning that not all naturalists reject retributivism in favor of deterrence or other views that understand punishment as purely instrumental.

    What Would a Determinist Choose to Do? 2008

  • Negative Legal Moralism, like negative retributivism (see Dolinko 1991: 539-43), acts as a side-constraint on our pursuit of the goals that provide our positive reasons for maintaining a system of criminal law, whereas a positive Legal Moralism helps to set those goals.

    Theories of Criminal Law Duff, Antony 2008

  • It doesn't help, of course, that inmate education and rehabilitation have been systematically de-legitimized and de-funded at the same time that the U.S. has built and operated a record number of new prisons in a spirit of what leading national prisoner "reentry" expert Jeremy Travis calls "robust retributivism."

    Dru Blood - I believe in the inherent goodness of all beings: Thinkers and performers can never stop wars or start peace. 2006

  • It doesn't help, of course, that inmate education and rehabilitation have been systematically de-legitimized and de-funded at the same time that the U.S. has built and operated a record number of new prisons in a spirit of what leading national prisoner "reentry" expert Jeremy Travis calls "robust retributivism."

    Dru Blood - I believe in the inherent goodness of all beings: January 2006 Archives 2006

  • A word is in order about the relation between deontological morality and retributivism as a theory of punishment.

    Deontological Ethics Alexander, Larry 2007

  • The converse relationship between deontology and retributivism is also suspect.

    Deontological Ethics Alexander, Larry 2007

  • Yet deontology as such does not require retributivism to be true.

    Deontological Ethics Alexander, Larry 2007

  • Some theorists believe that retributivism and deontology go hand in hand, in the sense that one requires the other.

    Deontological Ethics Alexander, Larry 2007

  • The retributivist who requires that all and only the guilty be punished can cast this as a categorical demand, in which case the retributivism will be deontological.

    Deontological Ethics Alexander, Larry 2007

  • It is better than a pure retributivism because it shows why a system of punishment is needed and how that system is to be nested into the larger political and moral concerns of a just society.

    Punishment Bedau, Hugo Adam 2005

Comments

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  • The Brooks Blog: 'The argument appears to be to support an outdated and little held view of retributivism: the pay back model. This view of retributivism—held by few, if any, retributivists for the last twenty years—holds that criminals gain a benefit or advantage when committing crime which, in turn, they owe back to the community. Thus, when a criminal steals a sum of money, the criminal enjoys a benefit and monetary advantage that is unjust: this model argues that the purpose of punishment is to remove the benefit/advantage.'

    August 11, 2008