ABSTRACT
If we believe that human beings cannot be held morally responsible for their wrongdoing, then we must rethink our attitude toward punishment. Just as the takings doctrine insists on compensation for the appropriation of private property for public use, there should be some compensation for the appropriation of personal liberty for public use in deterring crimes. In neither case can there be complete compensation, but in the case of punishment some compensation is necessary: first, to acknowledge the loss of liberty that the detained person suffers in the cause of community welfare, a loss that he, not being morally responsible for the harm he has caused, does not deserve to suffer; and, second, to force the community to internalize a greater portion of the cost of criminal justice.
