| Summary: | This paper is an attempt to understand and elaborate upon libertarian punishment theory. It is completely non-controversial, even amongst non-libertarians, that the criminal must be forced to return his ill-gotten gains to the victim. At least among libertarians, it is agreed upon, in addition, that the punishment for the criminal must be proportionate to his crime. This, typically, implies that what he did to the victim should be done to him. For example, if A steals a car from B, A must be compelled to return that automobile to B, and, then, to give B a vehicle owned by A. But what about the fact that A scared B when he committed his dastardly crime? Should punishment theory take that into account too, and, if so, how? That is the subject of the present paper.
|
|---|
