ABSTRACT
The retributive principle simply requires that punishment be done, and that it be proportioned both in quality and kind to the offense. Ironically, the retributive principles of punishment were usually invoked as justifications for using criminal punishment for other purposes. The primitive utilitarian principle overtook the primitive retributive principle under the rationale of maintaining order, preventing the total destruction of whole groups and clans that feuding necessarily brought about. The retributive principle insists that all offenses be treated with punishments that resemble the offenses both in quality and quantity. The utilitarian theory of punishment assumes that a certain amount of primitive oppression is necessary to maintain order and without it there would be, in Hobbes's words, "the war of ail against all". Enrico Ferri recognized reform of the offender as a worthwhile goal of punishment, he relegated it to secondary importance.
