Criminal Law Without Punishment: How Our Society Might Benefit From Abolishing Punitive Sanctions

Valerij Zisman

Published by De Gruyter 2023

Criminal Law Without Punishment

How Our Society Might Benefit From Abolishing Punitive Sanctions

Valerij Zisman

Volume 25 in the series Practical Philosophy

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111027821

Overview
Contents

About this book

How can criminal punishment be morally justified? Zisman addresses this classical question in legal philosophy. He provides two maybe surprising answers to the question. First, as for a methodological claim, it argues that this question cannot be answered by philosophers and legal scholars alone. Rather, we need to take into account research from social psychology, economy, anthropology, and so on in order to properly analyze the arguments in defense of criminal punishment. Second, the book argues that when such research is properly accounted for, none of the current attempts to justify criminal punishment succeed. But that does not imply that the state should do nothing about criminal wrongdoing. Rather, the arguments that were supposed to justify criminal punishment actually speak in favor of an alternative approach to criminal law: restitution to the victim and restorative justice. That is to say, the state should coerce offenders to provide restitution for the harm inflicted on victims, and whenever possible restorative approaches should be taken to address criminal wrongdoing.

Author / Editor information

Valerij Zisman, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law, Freiburg i. B., Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgment Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Part I: The Problem of Punishment
Chapter 1 Another “New Perspective”? Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 2 Definitions, Theses, and Method Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
Part II: Backward-Looking Approaches
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Chapter 3 Brute Retributivism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
Chapter 4 Fairness Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
Chapter 5 Penance and Censure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Chapter 6 Victims’ Rights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
Part III: Forward-Looking Approaches
Chapter 7 Deterrence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Part IV: Towards a Pluralistic Theory of Corrective Justice
Chapter 8 Weaving the Patchwork Rug Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	163
Chapter 9 Objections to Corrective Approaches to Criminal Law Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	185
Chapter 10 Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
Index of Names Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
Index of Subjects Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Researchers and students of criminal law, philosophy, criminology and social psychology, institutes, libraries
Pages
- Front matter: 9
- Main content: 233
Keywords: crime; compensation; wrongdoing

eBook

Published: September 5, 2023
ISBN: 9783111027821

Hardcover

Published: September 5, 2023
ISBN: 9783111027753