This chapter suggests that, in a liberal society, the problem of punishment is not identifying the purpose of criminal punishment, but determining whether criminal punishment is morally justified in the first place. It explores whether the state is morally justified in punishing those who violate the criminal law. Punishment is criminal punishment when the state is imposing the harm for the violation of the state’s rules of criminal law. Criminal punishment is wholly distinct from civil liability. It is a harm imposed on individuals who violate the rules of the criminal law that is independent of any finding of civil liability. The history suggests that the commonly held belief that criminal punishment was necessary for the preservation of social order has cause and effect reversed. Criminal punishment is inherently coercive. To be morally legitimate, criminal punishment must be necessary to attain some end morally more important than individual liberty.
The Problem of Punishment
The Problem of Punishment
Recent Publications
- Common Law Liberalism: A New Theory of the Libertarian Society (Oxford University Press, 2024)
- “Diversity and Group Performance,” Encyclopedia of Diversity, Springer, 2024
- “Evading and Aiding: The Moral Case Against Paying Taxes,” with Christopher Freiman and Jessica Flanigan, Extreme Philosophy, ed. Stephen Hetherington, Routledge (2024)
- “Online Sports Betting Giants Place Their Bets Against Growing Rivals”
- “Liberal Tolerance for an Illiberal, Intolerant Age”
Recent News
- Business as a Force for Good: MBA Students Support Hurricane Helene Victims Through Ethics Project
- Advocacy group concerned pay-for-plasma clinics expanding to Ontario will hurt voluntary donations
- Jason Brennan and Hélène Landemore, Debating Democracy (University of Zurich’s UBS Center, 2024)
- Jason Brennan “Everything Wrong with Democracy” on the Alex O’Connor Podcast (January 28, 2024)
- On the affirmative action ruling, the Supreme Court got it half right