I'm back! But I'm back with a purpose. I've been trying to figure out why we punish, both as a society and in a religious context. And I can't figure it out, so I need your input. Here's a brief note from my Criminal Law casebook describing the two basic theories:
"Broadly speaking, the justifications for punishment fall into two large categories, retributive and utilitarian. A retributivist claims that punishment is justified because people deserve it; a utilitarian believes that justification lies in the useful purposes that punishment serves. Retributive rationales are essentially backward looking, as they seek to justify punishment on the basis of the offender's behavior in the past. Utilitarian rationales are essentially forward looking, as they seek to justify punishment on the basis of the good consequences it is expected to produce in the future."
What do you think? How do we justify punishment?
