ABSTRACT
Chapter 3, “The Rational and the Reasonable,” sets out the standards for evaluating legislative policies around punishment. State-sponsored punishment is legally justified only if the punishment helps to maintain the state and enforce its laws, or can be reasonably expected to do so. State-sponsored punishment is morally justified if and only if the state itself is justified, its laws promote a just arrangement, and there is no less harmful alternative that would as effectively maintain the state (the principle of parsimony). When responding to wrongdoing, then, the state must consider whether punishment or some other practice, and what degree of punishment or kind of practice, deters more potential criminals from committing crimes; and other social costs and benefits of each, including for the victims. This entails that we are obligated to use alternatives to punishment that are more effective than the intentional infliction of harm when such alternatives are available.
