Retributivist Theories

This entry looks at recent retributivist theories that draw on denunciation and the expression of moral emotions in order to justify punishment. After setting out some of the canonical sources of the retributivist tradition, and explaining some of the most serious objections to this tradition, it looks at how these recent developments seek to overcome the objections while preserving what seems most of value in retributive ideas. The entry identifies work by P. F. Strawson and Patrick Devlin as the starting-point of these developments. In different ways, Strawson and Devlin seek to vindicate the idea that punishment should express our sense of the moral seriousness of crime as wrongdoing. Furthermore, they imply that punishment is necessary to do justice to the moral seriousness of wrongdoing.