Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T03:51:49.285Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Distributing Retributive Desert

from Part III - Problems and Puzzles of Punishment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2018

Larry Alexander
Affiliation:
University of San Diego
Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Get access

Summary

This chapter deals with the problem of distributing retributive desert. We begin with preliminary presuppositions about retributive desert. We then turn to distributive puzzles. First, we address the intersection of the means principle and retributive desert, arguing that the means principle bars not only the creation of crime to create the intrinsic goodness of giving people what they deserve but also that the means principle prevents taxing citizens to pay for retributive desert if they do not believe that it is intrinsically good. Second, we ask whether retributive desert determines what the form of suffering must be, what the timing of punishment should be, and how to select among the deserving in a world of scarce resources. We next turn to puzzles in which prior distributions might affect the distribution of desert. There is the familiar problem of different susceptibility to punishment. We also ask what would make a harm ineligible for counting as retributive desert. Finally, we discuss the relationship between negative and positive desert.
Type
Chapter
Information
Reflections on Crime and Culpability
Problems and Puzzles
, pp. 180 - 210
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×