PHIL 251 Lecture 15: They deserve to suffer
14 May 2016
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Document Summary
If someone deserves something, it"s intrinsically good when they get it: the guilty (morally culpable) deserve to suffer, so, it"s intrinsically good when the guilty suffer, so, punishing the guilty is sometimes morally justified. Punishment must be specific to the crime. A murder and a thief cannot receive the same sentence. Punishment also depends on how guilty the person is for the crime. An accomplice should be given a sentence but the mastermind should be punished more. It is important that the guilty person is aware of them being worse off that before in order for the punishment to be effective. Everybody has different triggers and thus crime due to provocation isn"t always justified. If people try to make amends on their own they don"t deserve punishment. For example, if you steal something but give it back, you are no longer guilty of theft. Motives and state of mind (mental capability) factor into the decision of desert.
