Making Punishment Safe for Democracy: A Reply to Professors Bowers, Cahill & Duff

Abstract:     
Professors Josh Bowers, Michael Cahill, and Antony Duff have each penned subtle and thoughtful response essays to my article, Retributive Justice and the Demands of Democratic Citizenship (available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1930443).

In this essay, I try to offer some initial thoughts that I hope will adequately address their separate challenges and queries. With respect to the challenges they offer, I should say that, in a few places, I offer some concessions. In most others, however, I decline their invitations to reconsider my arguments about our moral obligations to conform to or to enforce what I call permissibly dumb but not illiberal laws. This penultimate version of the paper also includes some efforts at addressing some challenges recently (and separately) raised by Professor Eugene Volokh.

Professor Bowers' essay can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1945743

Professor Cahill's essay can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1950660

Number of Pages in PDF File: 60

Keywords: retributivism, retributive justice, punishment theory, criminal justice, legal moralism

Accepted Paper Series