How To Make the Punishment Fit the Crime (From Criminal Justice, P 119-155, 1985, J Roland Pennock and John W Chapman, eds. - See NCJ-100667)

• NCJ Number: 100669
• Author(s): M David
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 35 pages
• Sale Source: Columbia University Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Republished (slightly revised) from Ethics 93, n 4 (July 1983), p 726-752.

Annotation

This essay applies the retributive principles to the setting of statutory penalties as preferable to the application of the utilitarian principle.

Abstract

The study defines retributivism as any theory of punishment claiming that the only acceptable reason for punishing persons is that they have committed crimes, that the only acceptable reason for punishing them with particular severity is that the punishment fits the crime, and that the fit between punishment and crime is independent of the consequences of the punishment. This is contrasted with utilitarianism, defined as any theory of punishment that makes the fit between punishment and crime depend upon the consequences of the particular punishment. The essay describes the steps for setting statutory penalties according to the retributive principle and argues that the retributive principle should sometimes yield statutory penalties different from those produced from the utilitarian principle. The study concludes that the retributivist penalty is morally preferable when if differs from the utilitarian penalty and that the retributivist penalty is more likely to be chosen in practice. 34 notes.