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Retributivist Theories

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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

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Synonyms

Retribution; Retributive punishment

Overview

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. The entry considers to what extent this line of argument, if more fully developed, might offer a successful defense of retributivism. It also...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield, 45 Victoria St, S3 7QB, Sheffield, UK

    Christopher Bennett

Authors
  1. Christopher Bennett
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher Bennett .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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Bennett, C. (2014). Retributivist Theories. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_603

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_603

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2

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