Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, Vol 45(3), Aug 2025, 229-246; doi:10.1037/teo0000312
Philosophers have debated the justification of punishment for a long time. Psychologists recently began studying lay intuitions of punishment to find out whether they fit any of the philosopher’s accounts. They demonstrated that the intuitions are retributive (rather than consequentialist) and expressivist—punishment is meant to send a message. It has also been argued that they fit Antony Duff’s communicative theory best. This article shows that this last argument is off the mark. More importantly, it surveys a wide range of research to show that punitive intuitions are better captured by a combination of status-based and moral education theories. The former claim that punishment is meant to raise the status of the victim and to lower the offender’s. This is in line with psychological research on the effects of victimization and punishment, on antisocial punishment, and on punishment’s direct effect on social standing. The latter claim that we care about the moral change of the punished offender—in line with the latest psychological studies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)