Why Consequentionalists Should Be Retributivists Too

Abstract

The author argues that it is fully rational for consequentionalist to be retributivists too. When there is no public law enforcement, rational victims will not be likely to punish the offenders, because the costs of punishment are higher then the potential deterrent gains for an individual. Therefore, rational offenders will not treat the threat of punishment as a credible one, and will continue to offend. Rational solution for potential victims is either to claim that it is retributive principle that they will follow, or to pay for the process of punishment in advance in order to avoid the temptation to save some money on the cost of general deterrence. In either way, it is a retribution principle that will be followed, although for consequentialist reasons. The author claims that both conseqentionalism and retributivism have their place within the theory of punishment, and one cannot be considered to be better than the other.

Keywords: crime, punishment, consequentionalism, retributivism

JEL Classification: K14