QUOTE: "People
often confuse retribution with revenge... Vengeance signifies inflicting harm
on the offender out of anger because of what he has done. Retribution is the
rationally supported theory that the criminal deserves a punishment fitting the
gravity of his crime...
Retributivism is not based on hatred for the criminal
(though a feeling of vengeance may accompany the punishment). Retributivism is
the theory that the criminal deserves to be punished and deserves to be
punished in proportion to the gravity of his or her crime, whether or not the
victim or anyone else desires it. We may all deeply regret having to carry out
the punishment, but consider it warranted.
When a society fails to punish criminals in a way
thought to be proportionate to the gravity of the crime, the danger arises that
the public would take the law into its own hands, resulting in vigilante
justice, lynch mobs, and private acts of retribution. The outcome is likely to
be an anarchistic, insecure state of injustice." ["Why the Death Penalty Is Morally
Permissible," from the 2004 book edited by Adam Bedau and titled Debating
the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment?]
AUTHOR: Louis Paul Pojman (April
22, 1935-October 15, 2005) was an American philosopher and professor, whose
name is most recognized as the author of over a hundred philosophy texts and
anthologies which he himself read at more than sixty universities around the
world and which continue to be used widely for educational purposes. Pojman was
known for work in applied ethics and philosophy of religion.
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