ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the normative and ethical commitments that underlay most of the punishment theory and practice while respecting the instinct to provide some remedy for preserve offenders who experience excessive suffering by appealing to mercy. It argues that mercy is often more about the person or group that shows mercy than it is about the recipient. The only way to weigh and resolve the potentially competing demands of mercy and criminal justice will therefore be to appeal to a more encompassing discourse that captures both mercy and criminal justice. The chapter describes theories that define punishment in terms of suffering as "subjectivist. One possibility open to the subjectivist might be to argue that all punishment is suffering and all suffering is punishment. One attractive feature of subjectivist theories of punishment is that they appear to offer an easy way to understand the normative significance of prison assaults, stress diseases, and other suffering experienced by lawfully incarcerated offenders.
