On responsibility, justification of punishment and theory of punishment as communication Cover Image

O odpowiedzialności karnej, uzasadnieniu kary i koncepcji komunikacyjnej karania
On responsibility, justification of punishment and theory of punishment as communication

Author(s): Michał Peno
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, Criminal Law, Philosophy of Law, Penology, Penal Policy, Philosophy of Law
Published by: Stowarzyszenie Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej – Sekcja Polska IVR
Keywords: responsibility; justification of punishment; theory of punishment as communication

Summary/Abstract: The article concerns the concept of punishment as an act of communication. Some retributivsts (i.e. ‘positive’ retributivists) believe that punishment communicates a censure. The article’s central proposition is that the act of communication is, in fact, strongly connected with the criminal responsibility. Furthermore, responsibility should not be identified with punishment. The so called positive retributivists claim that in order to fulfill communication purposes, offender have to be punished. However, punishment seems to be conceptually independent of the process of moral communication. It is shown that communication is linked with the very idea of criminal responsibility and the censure should by communicated through responsibility. Therefore, the article offers the view of responsibility as a complex process. Responsibility is an important social practice which in many cases can substitute punishment, particularly in its communicative aspect.

  • Issue Year: 9/2014
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 95-107
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: Polish