ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a framework for the discussion of the mounting perplexities which surround the institution of criminal punishment, and shows that any morally tolerable account of this institution must exhibit it as a compromise between radically distinct and partly conflicting principles. The most general lesson to be learnt from the extends beyond the topic of punishment. Justification and Excuse though different from each other are auke in that if either is made out then conviction and punishment are excluded. The admission of excusing conditions is a feature of the Distribution of punishment is required by distinct principles of Justice which restrict the extent to which general social aims may be pursued at the cost of individuals. Reform can only have a place within a system of punishment as an exploitation of the opportunities presented by the conviction or compulsory detention of offenders.