Punishment and Moral Uncertainty

Seeking Convergence on Criminal Justice
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-1-009-53805-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 220 Seiten

As Anglo-American legal systems face unsustainable levels of imprisonment, this book provides an ethical rationale for moving in a direction that pragmatic considerations already press us toward: reducing punitiveness. Every mainstream moral justification for criminal sanctions is subject to formidable objections, creating “moral uncertainty” about whether any single justification can adequately guide policymakers. Instead, this book defends 'The Convergence Approach' -- basing penal policy on areas of agreement between theories. This provides an ethical “safety net” so that even if one's preferred theory is flawed, another theory could still justify the policy. The book also proposes a presumption against imposing sanctions of a severity that a reasonable theory would deem excessive, and emulating less punitive Nordic systems. It discusses moral/legal principles applicable across many jurisdictions, providing accessible, up-to-date, interdisciplinary, and topical discussions of the prisons crisis, penal theories, moral psychology, crime prevention, and victims' and offenders' rights.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Shaw, Elizabeth

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Doubts about the justification of criminal sanctions; 2. The epistemic challenge to retributivism; 3. Evaluating retributivists' responses to the epistemic challenge; 4. Expanding the scope of the epistemic argument to cover nonpunitive incapacitation; 5. The convergence approach; 6. Non-retributive safeguards of due process; 7. Victims; 8. Public protection and implementation; References; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Shaw, Elizabeth
Elizabeth Shaw is Senior Lecturer in Law at The University of Aberdeen. She is the co-editor of Free Will Skepticism in Law and Society (Cambridge, 2019), and The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Punishment (2021).