Restorative over Retributive Justice

In this, his final article to be published in the Radical Philosophy Review, submitted just before his death, Richard Schmitt makes the case for restorative justice as an alternative to retribution and punishment for those who break the law. Attacking both the empirical basis of “instrumentalist” arguments as well as the intuitions of “retributivists,” Schmitt argues that incarceration in particular, and punishment more generally, lack a significant rational justification. Likewise, Schmitt highlights difficulties for less well-known and popular arguments for punishment. As an alternative, Schmitt defends the practice of restorative justice, aimed at enjoining those who break the law to repair the harm done. While he canvasses a number of criticisms of restorative justice, Schmitt shows in the end that the focus on the victim and active engagement with the offender as well as the reduced rates of recidivism speak in favor of restorative justice processes as an alternative to retribution and incarceration

Economic Justice · Harm · Punishment (psychology · Restorative justice · Retributive justice · Theodicy · Franz Kafka Literary Studies · Humanities and Social Sciences · Political Theology and Sovereignty