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"A Distributive Theory of Criminal Law"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this interesting-looking new piece by Professor Aya Gruber, which is in the October 2010 of the William and Mary Law Review.  Here is the abstract: In criminal law circles, the accepted wisdom is that there are two and only two true justifications of punishment -? retributivism and utilitarianism.  The multitude of moral claims about punishment may thus be reduced to two propositions: (1) punishment should be imposed because defendants deserve it, and (2) punishment should be imposed because it makes society safer.  At the same time, most penal scholars notice the trend in criminal law to de-emphasize intent, centralize harm, and focus on victims, but they largely write off this trend as an irrational return to antiquated notions of vengeance...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on October 17, 2010 (boomark / email).