Rejecting Retributivism: Free Will, Punishment, and Criminal Justice

Gregg D. Caruso

Rejecting Retributivism: Free Will, Punishment, and Criminal Justice
Format
Hardback
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Country
United Kingdom
Published
29 April 2021
Pages
280
ISBN
9781108484701

Rejecting Retributivism: Free Will, Punishment, and Criminal Justice

Gregg D. Caruso

Within the criminal justice system, one of the most prominent justifications for legal punishment is retributivism. The retributive justification of legal punishment maintains that wrongdoers are morally responsible for their actions and deserve to be punished in proportion to their wrongdoing. This book argues against retributivism and develops a viable alternative that is both ethically defensible and practical. Introducing six distinct reasons for rejecting retributivism, Gregg D. Caruso contends that it is unclear that agents possess the kind of free will and moral responsibility needed to justify this view of punishment. While a number of alternatives to retributivism exist - including consequentialist deterrence, educational, and communicative theories - they have ethical problems of their own. Moving beyond existing theories, Caruso presents a new non-retributive approach called the public health-quarantine model. In stark contrast to retributivism, the public health-quarantine model provides a more human, holistic, and effective approach to dealing with criminal behavior.

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