Justice and an ethic of care

from Dwight Furrow's entry on Philosophy on the Mesa:

[Bloggingheads.tv] recently hosted an interesting discussion between two psychologists—Michael McCullough and Dacher Keltner–on the evolutionary role of revenge and its place in contemporary society.

The whole discussion is worth listening to but about 28 minutes into the videocast they discuss the idea of restorative justice, which takes repairing relationships to be central to the idea of justice. Repairing relationships is the main feature of an ethics of care as well, and it seems to me this is where an ethic of care is able to fill out our notion of justice.

Aug 27, 2009 Retribution, Theory, Indigenous

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Dangers of the big tent

from Michael M. O'Hear's response to Erik Luna in Criminal Law Conversations (Paul H. Robinson et al. eds., 2009):

In making the case for restorative justice, Erik Luna invokes the familiar narrative of a pathological American criminal justice system—political demagogues pushing ever tougher sentencing policies on an uninformed public, resulting in wildly escalating prisons populations and fiscal burdens—and asserts that restorative justice cannot possibly do any worse. Indeed, he suggests, restorative justice may bring about a change in heart among the demagogues: the theory and principles of restorative justice may force policymakers “to reevaluate their own intellectual commitments and the merits of their chosen sentencing methodologies.

Aug 26, 2009 Limitations, Retribution, Theory

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Drunk driving and the purpose of punishment

From John G. Spragge's entry on Open Hand/Open Eye:

....But I know this too: that the justice system makes no sense at all when it makes distinctions not between harms but between instruments. The law ought to discriminate between harm done by negligence and harm done by malice. But the courts ought not to make a distinction between a child killed by negligence with a car bumper and negligence with a Glock.... 

Aug 12, 2009 Retribution, Theory, Case:DWI

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Violent juveniles serving life without parole: When victims of crime disagree

By Lisa Rea

I would like to draw your attention to a very controversial piece of US federal legislation, HR 2289, which seeks to address the problem of juvenile lifers who are serving life sentences.

The expressed purpose of the bill is to "establish a meaningful opportunity for parole or similar release of juvenile offenders sentenced to life in prison."

Aug 07, 2009 Retribution, Juvenile, Theory, Correspondent:Lisa Rea, Region: North America and Caribbean

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