Retributivism and the State's Interest in Punishment (From Criminal Justice, P 156-164, 1985, J Roland Pennock and John W Chapman, eds. See NCJ-100667)

• NCJ Number: 100670
• Author(s): J G Murphy
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: Columbia University Press
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Retributivist arguments for the state's administration of punishment for lawbreakers are not sufficiently powerful to make such punishment a compelling state interest.

Abstract

The coercion and radical intervention involved in the state's administering of criminal penalties can only be justified if it is required to fulfill a compelling state interest. Retributivists argue that it is important to establish a social institution that attaches suffering to evil actions. This constitutes state support for a moral or theological view of human experience. It is not the role of government to make a person's suffering proportionate to the ''evil' that person does as defined by the state. Another retributivist argument is that the state must ensure that citizens who violate the rights of other citizens suffer harms rather than gain benefits. Although this justification for the state's elaborate mechanism of punishment is mildly persuasive, it is not sufficiently strong to warrant the investment and intrusion involved. The state's compelling interest in protecting its citizens from serious harm at the hands of other citizens is adequate to justify the state administration of punishment. Deterrence must be the dominant aim of punishment, with retribution being at most a secondary aim. 12 notes.