ABSTRACT
A degree of pragmatism is inevitable in the way we respond to crime and criminals. However, it is surely beyond argument that the pursuit of criminal justice should at least try to be a moral enterprise. The way that we respond to harmful individuals needs to be underpinned by discernible moral values; otherwise we are almost certain to treat them harshly, even cruelly, in ways that undermine our own claim to be decent and civilized. There is patently room for argument about the exact nature of those values, not least because there are various types of crimes and criminals, and different degrees of danger and harm. Nevertheless we must find as much consensus as possible as to what ‘the right thing’ to do actually is.
