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Many people are upset about the verdict in the Caylee Anthony case. I've seen a photoshopped picture on Facebook of Casey Anthony and O.J. Simpson, the Porchlights On for Caylee campaign, and a wide variety of thoughts and commentary about the trial, the verdict, and Casey's future.
Setting aside this specific case, have you ever wondered why we legally punish people? There are many possible answers, all under dispute.
First, some people favor punishment as a form of deterrence. That is, if I see another member of my community being punished by imprisonment for performing some illegal action, I may think twice about doing the same thing because I don't want to end up in jail.
Second, some argue that punishment is justified as an expression of condemnation of the act in question. We as a society punish as a way of saying, in a strong manner, "We morally disapprove of this action."
A third justification offered for punishment, closely tied to the second, is that it is a form of moral education. The offender is punished so that he will learn that the action he did was wrong, and then apply this lesson to his life in the future.
Some people advocate abolishing the legal punishment system in favor of a system of restitution. The idea would be that rather than putting a thief in jail for ten years, he would be legally forced to pay restitution to his victims. This may involve something very similar to prison, but the purpose would be to provide him the opportunity to earn money in order to pay back his victim for the loss they suffered because of his crime.
There are many objections to the above accounts, nuanced versions of them, and different justifications altogether, but one last purpose of punishment is that offenders deserve to be punished for the crimes they commit. On this view, we may hope that they learn a lesson, or receive a communication of moral disapproval, or that their punishment deters others from committing the same crime. But ultimately on this account what justifies punishment is that the offender deserves it. Justice requires that he pay, in some sense, for the crime he committed.
This raises several deeper questions. How do we explain this standard of justice? Is it merely a function of human society, or is it grounded in something transcendent? And what role might forgiveness play in all of this? These are important questions to consider as we process what has happened in the Caylee Anthony case.
Which of the above justifications of punishment do you think is the best, and why?
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For more on punishment, see this article at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
