PHIL 316 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Dont, Mens Rea, Dignity
5 Jul 2016
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For kant, the very suffering of the criminal is intrinsically good because it is justice. Deterrence from committing crimes (don"t want to get locked up) For potential criminals and those you are punishing. You incapacitate the criminal and you use that as an example to deter other people. For kant, when bentham says we punish the criminal to deter other people, we"re using the criminal as a means to achieve our benefit of preventing more crime. From kant"s point of view of ethics, it"s always wrong to treat people as mere means to an end. They differ on whether punishment is an intrinsic good or a mischief. It is a mischief, but it is justified by its benefits. A person deserves to be punished in proportion to the harm that they did. In the case of revenge, there"s often no proportion. They can punish somebody far in excess than the wrong that they did.
