ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book examines the legal limits of the substantive criminal law. The crux of the retributive justification for overriding a person's right not to be criminalized is that those who harm others deserve criminal condemnation. The Eighth Amendment incorporates a cardinal right: the right not to be subjected to unjust state punishment and criminalization. The Supreme Court could use harm as a criterion when considering the proportionate fairness of criminalization. The harmfulness of a given act often depends on conventional conceptualizations of harm, social norms and socialization. Primitive harms are of a more universal nature, but almost always accord with our deep conventional understanding of harm as well. Harm-doing provides the only sound justification for depriving a person of his or her liberty through imprisonment.
