A Kantian View of Punishment
I. A View of Punishment that Kant Rejects
The
view: Whether civil authorities are justified in punishing a person is
solely a function of whether doing so would have good consequences for
the society as a whole.
Objections:
Sheriff example;
Prisoner and medical experiment example (332)
II. Jus Talionis (law of retribution)
".
. . whatever undeserved evil you inflict upon another within the
people, that you inflict upon yourself. If you insult him, you insult
yourself; if you steal from him, you steal from yourself; if you strike
him, you strike yourself; if you kill him, you kill yourself." (332).
This is a principle for civil authorities, not for feuding families.
III. Flexibility of Jus Talionis
It does not literally demand an eye for an eye.
It demands that punishment be proportional to crime.
IV. Jus Talionis and the Death Penalty
"If . . . he has committed murder he must die. Here there is no substitute that will satisfy justice. There is no similarity
between life, however wretched it may be, and death, hence no likeness
between the crime and the retribution unless death is judically carried
out upon the wrongdoer . . ." (333)
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