Abstract

Retributivists claim that those who deliberately and freely commit crimes deserve punishment proportionate to their crime. But Marx famously claimed that many criminals commit crimes because of social circumstances like abject poverty and therefore their punishment is unjust. ;I begin by outlining the retributivistic theory dominant in contemporary philosophical and legal literature, retributivism founded on social contractarianism. Such a theory has two strategies available to it to meet the Marxist's challenge: either claim that poverty denies persons the opportunity to enjoy benefits of social rules that justifies punishment or excuse the crimes by claiming that social conditions rendered the crime an unfree act, one failing to warrant punishment. I conclude that both strategies are unacceptable. The first rests on a serious misunderstanding of social contractarianism and both fail to take retributivism seriously enough. I then examine Hegel's theory of punishment, and my own development of that theory, as a viable alternative. I develop his justification for retributive punishment, namely that punishment "annuls crime". Finally I address Hegel's claim that in order for a crime to be annulled, members of that society must regard the punitive practices of their society as "valid." The "rabble", individuals alienated from their society, can only regard their punishment as "contingent". Hegel does not make it clear how social practices can have a meaning to some individuals, yet fail to have that meaning for others. I argue that in order for the social practice of punishment to function properly , members of that society must be properly socialized. This socialization process must include primarily the ongoing experience of interdependent, economic activities. A necessary feature of this socialization process is an internalization of the normative systems of one's society, of which punishment is an integral part. The rabble regard the norms of their society as shams and therefore necessarily regard their punishment as a sham. ;This Hegelian theory of retributivism explains why we are uneasy in punishing the rabble and argues compellingly that the punishment of all crimes is a necessary means to reforming society's injustices