Alwynne Smart addresses a topic not often mentioned in discussions of punishment, justice, and metaethics. Mercy plays a role in the discussion but is often overlooked. Smart explores the conditions where showing mercy is appropriate and circumstances where it is not. The first section suggests that “showing mercy often turns…

Vera Bergelson and Douglas Husak approach two different sides of the philosophical argument around punishment: punishing the blameless and punishing the deserving. Bergelson explores strict liability in a public welfare sense, which she explains came about “in the second half of the nineteenth century in response to the increased urbanization…

Kant explains his argument on the right to punish and grant clemency. First, he states that the right to punish is “the right of a ruler to inflict pain upon a subject in response to a crime committed by the subject.” (140) From this logic, Kant explains that the ruler…

Michael Lessnoff addresses two theories and their justifications of punishment, those being the retributive theory and utilitarian theory. He only assesses the theories regarding punishment, not as a whole. When doing so, he brings up the example of eminent domain. Lessnoff first defines the retributive theory’s justification of punishment by…

Justice Johnson expresses his opinion regarding the case Louisiana v. Bryant and Bryant’s petition for a writ of certiorari. Bryant was sentenced to life in prison for the attempted theft of some hedge clippers. Bryant was a repeat offender, which caused the possibly excessive punishment. It can be reasonably assumed…

Paulina Sliwa explores the conception of an excuse in moral philosophy. Specifically, she aims to “develop a unified account of excuses,” by exploring what they are and what they do. (Sliwa 1) Her argument is that “excuses are considerations that show that an agent’s wrongdoing does not manifest a specific…

In “Moral Luck and the Law,” David Enoch asks if there is a difference in moral blameworthiness between murder and attempted murder. The moral luck that results in an attempted murder instead of a successful murder can then be applied in a courtroom and is deemed legal luck. Enoch first…

Gideon Yaffe analyzes mens rea and its application to criminal law by applying a numerical argument to the discussion. To begin, I would like to define two legal terms essential to understanding Yaffe’s argument. “Actus reus” is defined as a guilty act, and “mens rea” is defined as the intention…

The wrongness constraint is thoroughly discussed in articles by A.P. Simester and Andreas von Hirsch and Andrew Cornford. Simester and von Hirsch provide more of an explanation of and bit of an expansion upon using wrongfulness as a determinant of criminalization. They provide three theses that stand to support the…