“If we’re going to harm somebody because they’ve done something wrong, we should do it because we expect good things — better things — to come from it.” — Professor Adam Kolber

As humans, we have strong feelings about right and wrong. But our individual opinions regarding what constitutes justice — or even what constitutes a crime, in many cases — may vary. Our culture remains deeply divided on the policies that guide punishment, so how do we determine the best and most ethical courses of action when it comes to maintaining law and order in our society? Should punishment be inflicted to cause harm and suffering, or as a consequence that will produce some good?

This episode of The Living Jewishly Podcasts is an instalment of What Would You Do?, a podcast about ethics in the modern world. This episode’s guest is Professor Adam Kolber, who teaches health law, bioethics, criminal law, and neurolaw at Brooklyn Law School.

During this conversation, Dr. Elliott Malamet and Professor Kolber dive into the goals and moral basis of punishment, the difference between vengeance and punishment, and how culture and politics affect crime and its institutional consequences.

“When you increase amounts of punishment a little bit, it doesn’t affect people’s behaviour very much… because most people don’t think they’re going to get caught.” — Professor Adam Kolber

This‌ ‌episode discusses:‌ ‌

• The retributivist approach to punishment v. the consequentialist approach
• The rationale behind the extremely high levels of crime and incarceration in the United States
• What we gain from performing justice and punishment on an institutional rather than individual level — and which types of punishments are most effective

‌

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:53 Intro

02:42 Adam Kolber & goals of punishment

04:46 Vengeance & punishment

06:03 Blood avengers v. institutions

07:44 Crime in the United States

10:39 Crime & culture

13:11 Heroes in popular culture

14:40 “Getting away with it”

16:12 Effective punishments

18:27 Kant’s thought experiment

22:40 Free will, responsibility & capital punishment

27:30 Eye for an eye

30:11 Proportionality & drug offences

32:27 Atonement

34:09 Punitiveness in the digital era

38:19 Conclusion

Links:‌ ‌

Kant: The Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant & Mary J. Gregor (Editor)

https://www.amazon.ca/Kant-Metaphysics-Morals-Immanuel/dp/0521566738

To get in contact or learn more about Living Jewishly:

Visit‌ ‌our ‌website: https://livingjewishly.org

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Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2YEegjapKpQeXG6zh6tzw

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Shalom!