Law in Contemporary Society

View   r8  >  r7  ...
DRussellKraftFirstPaper 8 - 28 Feb 2010 - Main.StephenSevero
Line: 1 to 1
 
META TOPICPARENT name="FirstPaper"

Just Punishment?

Line: 90 to 90
 
  • Your paragraph on retributivism seems to suggest it makes our punishments harsher. From my, admittedly cynical, viewpoint - it's really a limiting factor. From what I've read, Lex Talionis and its variations were a way to say 'You can't kill for this, you can only inflict so much harm.' When we used to kill, now we only jail. It does give moral justification for the harm, but it also attempts to reign in our baser instinct to just kill anyone who fucks with us. Maybe that's your point too, but the paragraph seems to be riding the middle. -- StephenSevero - 28 Feb 2010
    • Stephen - What I'm trying to say is exactly what you suggest: Retributivism certainly has a built-in limiter in the requirement for guilt. To address your criticism, I'm not sure how to get that point as well as the Retributivism's justification of the infliction of suffering by outsiders without some amount of "riding the middle." Do you have suggestions on how I could make it more clear? Cheers. -- DRussellKraft - 28 Feb 2010
Added:
>
>		 * My concern isn't so much with thinking both thoughts, but more about making both explicit. The space limitation makes it difficult, but I think a simple sentence might help clarify the point. Maybe something along the lines "While it restricts the vengeance of the harmed, it also justifies, even requires, a certain state response." I agree with your reference to the bible, and I think a link would help support the point. There's a lot you could use, but I think Deuteronomy 19 would work nicely. -- StephenSevero - 28 Feb 2010
 
\ No newline at end of file

Revision 8r8 - 28 Feb 2010 - 18:53:14 - StephenSevero
Revision 7r7 - 28 Feb 2010 - 16:37:07 - DRussellKraft
This site is powered by the TWiki collaboration platform.
All material on this collaboration platform is the property of the contributing authors.
All material marked as authored by Eben Moglen is available under the license terms CC-BY-SA version 4.
Syndicate this site RSSATOM