Week Twenty - Retribution Flashcards
Retributive emotions…
Retributive emotions are very deep in our culture …and perhaps in our human nature
(though so is reconciliation)
Reciprocity..
Reciprocity / tit-for-tat has been argued to be an essential evolutionary response
Most of us have a sense that a wrong must be righted ]
Maybe retribution is the other side of the coin from do as you would be done by (the ‘Golden Rule’)
General….
“Punishment is embedded in the history of our culture and is deeply imprinted on our characters.” (Graeme Newman)
‘The stories we enjoy the most … are tales of good and evil. We want the good guys to be rewarded – and we really want to see the bad guys suffer.’ (Paul Bloom)
Punishment is good in itself because deserved
In some sense, it restores a ‘balance’ that was disturbed by the offence
Proportion and limits: people should not be punished more than they deserve - and normally not less
Innocent people may not be punished
Amount determined by harm done but also by offender’s responsibility for this
But how convert crimes into punishments? - ‘a year for an eye and three months for a tooth’ (Christie)
Almost all arguments in mitigation put forward in court are known to most of us by the age of about 3…
That’s too harsh
I didn’t mean it
You didn’t punish him as much when he did it
I’m really sorry
I couldn’t help it
She started it
I’ll make it up
I owned up straight away
That’s not fair
I’ll never do it again
I’ve never done it before
It wasn’t that bad
Partly we learn about right and wrong through punishment. And we also learn about the extent of our blameworthiness by being told off and in our negotiations with our parents or carers.
Many religions believe that the human condition is itself a punishment for an original sin …
Most religious traditions include teachings about ‘divine punishment’ and in some cases an instruction or implication that human practices should be modelled on the divine.
It will be suggested that views about punishment may also be an expression of allegiance to shared, communal values, making it difficult to articulate an opposing view. If, for example, certain kinds or amounts of punishment are customary in a community, then to take a very different stance could seem to be a betrayal of the beliefs that are inseparable from the group membership which for many people is a central aspect of their personal identity.
Authority is another concept that is learnt alongside the idea of fitting punishment.
A consequence is that attitudes towards punishment involve personal, cultural, social and religious commitments and commonly evoke strong passions. This has plain implications for attempts to change the practices of punishment.
Life after death…
… and many (perhaps most) of those who believe in a life after death expect that it will be determined by our behaviour in this life, as a reward or punishment
