Chapter 11 Questions

Prison Sentences and Punishment
  1. Must defenders of the deterrence justification believe that it’s sometime acceptable to frame the innocent or authorise inhumane forms of punishment? How can we formulate the deterrence justification to avoid these conclusions?
  1. Can a concern for deterrence support the state’s use of prison sentences? If so, does this give us reason to favour longer or shorter prison sentences?
  1. Does retribution provide the state with any reason to punish an individual who commits a crime? How significant is this reason and how should we balance it against other moral concerns?
  1. What’s the communicative justification for the state’s use of prison sentences? How plausible is this argument, and does it support the longer or shorter prison sentences?
  1. Should the state shorten prison sentences?
Back to top