Kants Theory of Punishment - Essay Example

The first step: read primary sources in which Kant’s theory of punishment is articulated. Start with Kant’s Science of Right. See in particular:
Punishment can never be administered merely as a means for promoting another Good, either about the Criminal himself or to Civil Society, but must in all cases be imposed only because the individual on whom it is inflicted has committed a crime (Kant, 68).
Main points: Kant’s position against punishment as a tool for deterrence and that punishment should be carried out because it is deserved more than for any other reason.
Look to secondary sources for academic interpretations of Kant’s theory of punishment See Kneller and Axinn’s Autonomy and Community: Readings in Contemporary Kantian Social Philosophy, and Corlett’s Responsibility and Punishment. Knell et al argue that Kant’s theory of punishment could be excessive, see p. 175 in particular. Corlett argues that Kant’s theory does advocate for fairness and human dignity (61). Shoham, Beck, and Kett’s examination of Kant’s theory of punishment in the International Handbook of Penology and Criminal Justice is very instructive and intuitive and will be relied on it to a greater extent than the others. Kant’s theory is interpreted to mean that if society does not punish offenders, society is complicit in the crime…see pp 384-385 for further discussion.
Another relevant area of study is the general theory of punishment in the field of criminology: Look at the deterrent principle and how it develops as a discipline in criminology see Cragg’s The Practice of Punishment: Towards a Theory of Restorative Justice, beginning at p. 42. Also note Braithwaite’s theory of punishment as expressed in Not Just Deserts: A Republican Theory of Criminal Justice and the move away from deterrence. Use Lord Dennings quote as a lead-in:
the ultimate justification of any punishment is not that it is a deterrent but that it is the emphatic denunciation by a community of a crime (Braithwaite and Pettit, 18).
Lead into the move toward rehabilitative justice as opposed to retribution and deterrence as theories of punishment. Read More