Introduction: The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Punishment

Starting around 1974 the nothing works movement became dominant in the United States, and it joined forces with retributivism, populist punitivism, and “selective incapacitation” to promote mass incarceration. Sociologists brought more rigorous methods of cultural investigation to the study of crime and corrections; psychologists studied the social and environmental factors contributing to crime and crime prevention; biologists and neuroscientists examined the complex biopsychosocial factors related to crime. The main focus of biopsychosocial studies on criminal behavior is to achieve new ways to prevent crime through increased knowledge of the risk and protective factors that impact desistance. The chapter explores major contemporary theories of punishment, including retributivism, utilitarianism, hybrid theories, and restorative justice. It examines a wide range of important philosophical issues raised by the question of punishment, together with the implications of contemporary psychological research for the people theories and practices of criminal punishment.