Justification for Punishment: why do we punish?

Have you ever heard your parents say this before, "Go sit in the corner and think about what you did." Are your parents punishing you for doing wrong or are they trying to keep you from repeating a wrong act? Justification for punishment is essential in explaining whether the punishment is a retributive or utilitarian and if its intent is valid or not. A retributive viewpoint is backward-looking in that punishment is only administered if a person is guilty of an unlawful action. This is the opposite of a forward-looking viewpoint, or utilitarian viewpoint, because punishment is dealt o…