Must Penal Law Be Insulated from Public Influence?

Law and Philosophy 40 (1):67-87 (2020)
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Abstract

Punishment and democracy appear to exacerbate each other’s worst features. The institutions and moral intuitions used to punish those that break the law can hollow out civic participation, distort the electorate, and undermine core democratic values. Likewise, many have argued the decentralized character of democracy is a key, albeit indirect, cause of increasingly punitive public policies that are divorced from any reasonable penological purpose. Given the effects of electoral politics, many have called for the separation, or general insulation, of state punishment from public influence. However, recent empirical work on punitive attitudes and institutional design has begun to chip away at this common sense. This article contextualizes and qualifies the various mechanisms of policy feedback and public opinion formation thought by political theorists to undermine democratic participation in penal institutions and makes a normative case that insulating the public from penal law actively sustains injustice.

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References found in this work

The Aptness of Anger.Amia Srinivasan - 2017 - Journal of Political Philosophy 26 (2):123-144.
Forgiveness and Resentment.Jeffrie G. Murphy - 1982 - Midwest Studies in Philosophy 7 (1):503-516.
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Restitution and Revenge.David B. Hershenov - 1999 - Journal of Philosophy 96 (2):79.
Punishment and revenge.Leo Zaibert - 2006 - Law and Philosophy 25 (1):81-118.

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