Self-study
P1
Many of us can conceive of penalties that seem disproportionate to the crimes they are intended to punish. ███
Intro Topic ·
Concept of punishment that fits the crime
Examples ·
of disproportionate punishment
Probation for murder is too light and long prison sentence for shoplifting is too severe.
Question ·
Where do our intuitions about the appropriateness of punishments come from?
P2
█████ ███ ███ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ███
Potential Answer ·
Two rationales for punishment
First Rationale ·
Social-benefit
Punishment is justified because society benefits from deterring would be criminals.
Second (Controversial) Rationale ·
Retribution
Punishment is not justified by benefit to society. Instead, punishment is justified by the severity of the crime; what is appropriate or just.
P3
███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ █████ ███████████ ████ ██████████ ███████████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ██ █████████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ████████████ ███
Problem ·
with social-benefit rationale
The societal benefit of deterrence can sometimes justify punishments that intuitively feel too severe. Example of shoplifter punishment.
Solution ·
retribution is the better rationale
The concept of appropriateness (absent in social-benefit rationale) is what accounts for the intuition of proportionality in punishment. It's not about beneficial punishment. It's about just punishment.
P4
████████ ██ ███ ██ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ █ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ █ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██████ ████████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███
Critique of and Alternate Solution ·
Intuition can be justified with social-benefit rationale
The retributivist notions of appropriateness, proportionality, and justice can be reframed as balancing benefit to society against cost to the individual.
Actual Answer / Main Point ·
The retributivist intuitions are grounded in social-benefit rationale
Passage Style
Single position
14.
As described in the second ██████████ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ █████████ █████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████
a
The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ █████████
b
The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ████████
Not supported, because the retributive rationale depends on what’s fair given the severity of the crime; what society “deems correct” is not a consideration.
c
The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████
Anti-supported, because the retributive rationale, as described by P2, doesn’t take into account consequences (social benefit).
d
The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████
Anti-supported, because the retributive rationale, as described by P2, doesn’t take into account consequences (social benefit).
e
The correctness of ██ ██████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████
Anti-supported, because the retributive rationale, as described by P2, doesn’t take into account consequences (social benefit).