Open AccessCan the Law Do Without Retributivism? Comments on Erin Kelly’s The Limits of Blame
Author(s) -
Adina L. Roskies
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
criminal law and philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.218
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1871-9805
pISSN - 1871-9791
DOI - 10.1007/s11572-020-09542-9
Subject(s) - blame , retributive justice , punitive damages , law , criminal justice , economic justice , philosophy of law , criminal law , political science , criminology , sociology , psychology , social psychology , comparative law
Erin Kelly's The Limits of Blame presents a critique of our current overly punitive legal system and champions a system of criminal justice that does not traffic in moral blame and is free of retributivist elements. This commentary questions the viability of such a system, and ultimately suggests that there is not much distance between a more perfect retributivist system and the kind of more nuanced and humane system of criminal justice that Kelly envisions.