The theory of criminal justice is the branch of

philosophy of law Philosophy of law is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature of law and law's relationship to other systems of norms, especially ethics and political philosophy. It asks questions like "What is law?", "What are the criteria for legal vali ...

that deals with

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of o ...

and in particular

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular acti ...

. The theory of criminal justice has deep connections to other areas of philosophy, such as

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

and

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

, as well as to criminal justice in practice.

Justice and criminal justice

Distinction from general justice

Typically, legal theorists and philosophers consider four distinct kinds of justice: corrective justice,

distributive justice Distributive justice concerns the socially just allocation of resources. Often contrasted with just process, which is concerned with the administration of law, distributive justice concentrates on outcomes. This subject has been given considera ...

, procedural justice, and

retributive justice Retributive justice is a theory of punishment that when an offender breaks the law, justice requires that they suffer in return, and that the response to a crime is proportional to the offence. As opposed to revenge, retribution—and thus retr ...

. Corrective justice is the idea that liability rectifies the injustice one person inflicts upon another (found in modern day contract law). Distributive justice seeks to appropriately distribute pleasure and pain between the offender and the victim by punishing the offender.

Procedural justice Procedural justice is the idea of fairness in the processes that resolve disputes and allocate resources. One aspect of procedural justice is related to discussions of the administration of justice and legal proceedings. This sense of procedura ...

focuses on the fairness in the processes that punish criminals. Retributive justice is perhaps best captured by the phrase ''lex talionis'' (the principle of "an eye for an eye"), which traces back to the

Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organised, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, purportedly by Hamm ...

. Criminal law generally falls under retributive justice, a theory of justice that considers proportionate punishment a morally acceptable response to crime. The principle of ''lex talionis'' received its most well known philosophical defense from Immanuel Kant. Criminal law is no longer considered a purely retributive undertaking; deterrence figures prominently in the justification of the practice and in the rules themselves.See e.g., H.L.A. Hart, Liberty and Morality (1963)

References

Legal ethics Social philosophy Criminal justice

Justice and criminal justice

Distinction from general justice

See also

References