Why Kant We Just Locke Them Up? : Understanding Penal Justification Through Political Philosophy

This paper seeks to revisit dominant theories of penal justification through the lens of canonical political theory, most specifically focusing on the work on punishment by Immanuel Kant, John Locke, and Cesare Beccaria. While contemporary work (scholarly and technical) on the reasons for punishing in specific ways is often couched in the justificatory narratives of deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration, there is little attention paid to the philosophical underpinnings of these narratives. By revisiting dominant philosophical formulations one is then able to more clearly analyze material claims about punishment and their genealogies. This paper further argues that through more explicitly connecting justification with the theoretical structures that produce a particular goal, there is greater possibility for using the justificatory narrative as a test for how successfully those goals are being met