Thus, the two questions bentham wishes to apply utilitarian moral theory to answer are. Utilitarian and retributivist theories of punishment. The commonly identified theories of punishment for lawbreakers are either utilitarian, in that punishment is justified because it leads to a better society by reducing crime, or they are retributive, in that punishment is justified because the convicted criminal is morally deserving of punishment. The dichotomy of retributive justice vs utilitarian justice largely reflects the distinction between a consequentialist and nonconsequentialist approach to policy see duff and garland 1994. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory according to which the. Download file to see previous pages this theory relies on some intrinsic value being installed within a person initially in order for these decisions and distinction to be made. Maximization the view that the value of a state of affairs should be made as great as possible.
Social norms, necessity, and social desirability are some of the factors that lawmakers balance when developing punishment statutes. This theory emphasizes end over means, therefore it is a teleological or consequentialist ethical theory. We will write a custom essay on utilitarian and retributivist theories of punishment specifically for you. Traces of utilitarian thought can be found in the works of plato and aristotle, but not until the eighteenth century did utilitarianism truly begin to emerge as a welldefined and. Karl menninger, whose views we considered in chapter two, gives such a theory. In fact, deterrence is the main focus of utilitarian punishment, but punishment should also focus on rehabilitation, or correcting criminal behavior so. Mccloskey, a nonutilitarian approach to punishment.
Utilitarianism in crime and punishment by katie jander on prezi. On the utilitarian and retributive justifications of. Retributivism was the clear beneficiary of such an approach. On the utilitarian and retributive justifications of punishment. Punishmentretribution, rehabilitation, and deterrence. Governments have several theories to support the use of punishment to maintain order in society. A theory of punishment should tell us not only when punishment is permissible but also when it is a duty. Whatever can be proved to be good, must be so by being shown to be a means to something. Punishment 2014 utilitarian theory example of a sheriff in a small town and a from phil 300 at tulane university. The most fundamental and enduring criticism of the utilitarian theory of punishment hereafter, the utp is the claim that utilitarianism necessitates a disjunction between punishment and justice the basis for this criticism is the fact that utilitarians insist that the moral and political justification of punishment is exclusively derived from the beneficial consequences that punishment. The penal code was to be the first in a collection of.
I end by arguing that, given the insights of behavioral psychology, utilitarian goals of punishment are not sufficiently accomplished under limiting retributivism. If punishment is inflicted, there will be less crime committed thereafter than there would be. According to the retributive theory the purpose of punishment is to seek revenge. Utilitarians therefore, have a prima facie difficult time justifying punishment. Introduction since the dawn of civilization, societies have felt the need to impose order by regulating human relations and interactions according to a set of laws or code of conduct. The utilitarian theory believes that actions are corrects if they benefit the maximum possible number of people and bring out the maximum possible happiness for the parties affected by that action. The retributive theory seeks to punish offenders because they deserve to be punished. Stories of the norse gods and heroes hackett classics metamorphoses hackett classics aeneid hackett classics the faerie queene, book one hackett classics bk. Jan 31, 2012 the utilitarian theory of punishment i. This research tries to take a look at the idea of capital punishment from kantian and utilitarian ethics perspectives. The utilitarian theory is central to benthams theor y o f punishment, in which the obj ective was to ensure that a punishment is in pro portion to the mischief produced by a. It is not clear whether mccloskeys retributivism is supposed to do this. Its main focus is punishment should be an option if it is going to produce an overall good.
Although the view that punishment is to be justified on utilitarian grounds has obvious appeal, an examination of utilitarianism reveals that, consistently and accurately interpreted, it dictates unjust punishments which are unacceptable to the common moral consciousness. Punishment 2014 utilitarian theory example of a sheriff in. Proportionality in the philosophy of punishment authors. Kant objections on utilitarianism utilitarian theory of. This theory appears to be more humane, punishment at best would be a necessary evil. The utilitarian theory seeks to punish offenders to discourage future wrongdoing. These counterintuitive results suggest there is something wrong with utilitarian premises. Its main focus is punishment should be an option if it is going to produce an. The utilitarian side of the punishment coin states that when someone is punished for committing a crime, the good of the punishment should be greater than the total bad of the crime, and that a punishment shouldnt be unlimited. For example, a gravely ill criminals incarceration no longer benefits society because he is unable to commit. He then argues that the phrase does not occur in the introduction to the principles because it does not represent benthams views about con. Kant objections on utilitarianism utilitarian theory of punishment premised from phl 449 at ryerson university. Section ii addresses the contemporary philo sophical discussion. Utilitarian justifications for punishment our first theoretical foray into punishment is the utilitarian perspective.
George hegel and immanuel kant criticized and rejected the utility theory, presented the contrast retributive theory of punishment, which is of non utilitarian on the premises that punishment is not means to an end but end in itself. Utilitarianism in crime and punishment by katie jander on. In fact, deterrence is the main focus of utilitarian punishment, but punishment should also focus on rehabilitation, or correcting criminal behavior so that criminals may become productive members. Punishment is justified because, it is claimed, it helps to control crime. The classical utilitarians hackett classics classics of analytic philosophy hackett classics antigone hackett classics the essential homer hackett classics the poetic edda. Those who think of bentham as a rationalistic eccentric and of utilitarian ethics as coldly calculating should read the next two paragraphs in which bentham excoriates his fellow countrymen for tolerating such atrocious penalties. For menninger, punishment is nothing but the infliction of pain and suffering. Arguments against the utilitarian theory the utilitarian theory states that punishment is justified only if it contributes to the greatest volume of happiness in the greatest number of. Punishment is awarded to reduce crimes and used as means to an end, is the claim of the utilitarian.
Utilitarian theories of punishment essay example topics. It is evident that this cannot be proof in the ordinary and popular meaning of the term. The objectives of punishment were then related to attributions regarding the cause of a transgression. In other words, the monetary loss of the sufferer is compensated and the. George hegel and immanuel kant criticized and rejected the utility theory, presented the contrast retributive theory of punishment, which is of nonutilitarian on the premises that punishment is not means to an end but end in itself. Utilitarianism john stuart mill mcmaster faculty of. May 05, 2012 theories of punishment utilitarian vs. Should we aim for a unified and coherent theory of punishment. As noted above, utilitarian considerations lead to the.
Thomas aquinas and the philosophy of punishment on jstor. His arguments against utilitarianism consist largely in examples of punishments unacceptable to the common moral consciousness but supposedly approved of by the. Thom brooks criticizes utilitarian and retributive theories of punishment but argues that utilitarian and retributive goals can be incorporated into. Theories of punishment can be divided into two general philosophies. Bradleys utilitarian theory of punishment chicago journals. For one thing, the criterion dispute includes a dispute about whether there is any such moral instinct.
It was documented that punishment goals are mediated by the expectancies and affects that are elicited by causal beliefs. Harts 1959 synthesis of utilitarian and retributive ideas. Utilitarianism an ethical theory according to which the rightness and wrongness of acts depends entirely on facts about the maximization of overall wellbeing. Utilitarian punishment theory justified in the purpose it serves. As opposed to the utilitarian side, which bases the severity of punishment upon how much it will benefit society as a whole, the retributive side instead looks at the actual illegal act, executing a punishment that fits the act. Utilitarian theory an overview sciencedirect topics. That, for me, counts heavily in favor of it as a moral theory. In a note on utilitarian punishment 5 and again in a nonutilitarian approach to punishment i argued from the logical possibility of such useful unjust punishments and unjust systems of punishment, i. Nov 04, 2015 theories of punishment can be divided into two general philosophies. Modern theory of punishment modern theory of punishment is a combination of all the theories discussed above. Philosophy and psychology submitted by ofarris words 291 pages 2. Pdf kantian and utilitarian ethics on capital punishment. Two basic goals of punishmentretribution and utilityand the means to those goals, including isolation, rehabilitation, and the creation of fear, were first examined.
The retributivist and utilitarian theories for justification of criminal punishment. Bentham adds that this punishment is reserved for negro slaves guilty of rebellion. In other words, the monetary loss of the sufferer is compensated and the criminal has to compensate for the loss. Much debate surrounds how to punish criminal offenders. The utilitarian authors will offer answers to such questions as.
The retributivist and utilitarian theories for justification. The obvious example of the utilitarian and retributive forms of justice leading to different conclusions is that of capital punishment. The mistake comes from ignoring the painpleasure dimension of benthamite utilitarianism and from regarding the principle of utility itself as the sole criterion of action in a topdown fashion. Utilitarianism john stuart mill mcmaster faculty of social. Utilitarianism is based on the principle of utility. Deterrence theory of punishmentthe purpose is to prevent future crimeit expresses a utilitarian view of punishment. Utilitarian justifications are forwardlooking consequentialistic in nature. And in fact, aspects of utilitarianism can look very hard to resist. The tern utilitarianism was established or became from philosopher benthams test question.
Questions of ultimate ends are not amenable to direct proof. Under the deterrent philosophy, punishment should prevent other people from committing criminal acts. A more pure form of utilitarianism is required to achieve utilitarian goals with hard and fast. While defenders of utilitarianism have shown that a publicly announced policy of punishing the innocent is unlikely to serve utility, critics have insisted that utilitarianism morally obliges. Mong peacetime exercises of state power, the most vivid and principally problematic is arguably the practice of punishment. Feb 28, 2017 modern theory of punishment modern theory of punishment is a combination of all the theories discussed above. Reformative theory of punishment pdf download this paper open pdf in browser share email add to. Utilitarian theory of punishment 99 indirect consequences stemming from it. Theoretical attacks on utilitarianism the decline of utilitarian punishment and sentencing was also greatly accelerated by the fact that at the theoretical level there was a move towards. The retributive theory seeks to punish offenders because they. Accordingly, these examples are widely thought to illustrate the implausibility of the utilitarian theory of punishment. Jeremy bentham, the founder of utilitarianism believed that pain and pleasure where the two sovereign masters, and that they govern the actions of. Pdf an introduction to jeremy benthams theory of punishment. An attributional examination of retributive versus.
Traditionally, the main theories of punishment that have dominated the subject have been retributivism and utilitarianism,4. Utilitarianism states that the result of an act is the real measure of whether it is good or bad. We can break the utilitarian thesis up into two parts. Posted by andrew on may 5, 2012 in criminal law, key concepts 0 comments. This is because some of its arguments are subject to criticism. Of the various theories of punishment the following there are the most important and typical retributive, preventive and reformative. In addition, we will give voice to some major objections to the utilitarian theory. Punishment restores that lost balance disturbed by the crime banks. Retributive theories of punishment emphasize the past by taking punish ment to be the deserved consequent of criminal acts. These families are known as criticallevel utilitarianism and criticallevel generalized utilitarianism. Standard utilitarian theory encompasses two essential elements. A humanitarian theory is a variation of utilitarian theory that advocates therapy and treatment, not punishment.
In other words, punishment helps to keep society balanced. It was documented that punishment goals are mediated by the expectancies and affects that. Social cohesion, punishment intended to have effect upon honest people, punishing crime is a societal goal because crime is against society itself. The retributive or retributivist theory of justice considers punishment as an intrinsically appropriate. All of the questions about the justification of punishment general justification, title and severity will be answered by appeal to the utility value of the consequences of an action. Utilitarian theories of punishment essay example topics and.
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