Intuitions of Punishment

8 Pages Posted: 19 Apr 2010 Last revised: 2 Feb 2011

See all articles by Owen D. Jones

Owen D. Jones

Vanderbilt University - Law School & Dept. of Biological Sciences

Robert Kurzban

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Psychology

Date Written: April 19, 2010

Abstract

Recent work reveals, contrary to wide-spread assumptions, remarkably high levels of agreement about how to rank order, by blameworthiness, wrongs that involve physical harms, takings of property, or deception in exchanges. In The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice (http://ssrn.com/abstract=952726) we proposed a new explanation for these unexpectedly high levels of agreement.

Elsewhere in this issue, Professors Braman, Kahan, and Hoffman offer a critique of our views, to which we reply here. Our reply clarifies a number of important issues, such as the interconnected roles that culture, variation, and evolutionary processes play in generating intuitions of punishment.

Keywords: Crime, Criminal Law, Punishment, Core Wrongs, Justice, Intuitions of Justice, Culture, Evolution, Evolutionary Analysis in Law

Suggested Citation

Jones, Owen D. and Kurzban, Robert, Intuitions of Punishment (April 19, 2010). Chicago Law Review, Vol. 77, p. 1633, 2010, Vanderbilt Public Law Research Paper No. 10-18, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1592413

Owen D. Jones (Contact Author)

Vanderbilt University - Law School & Dept. of Biological Sciences ( email )

131 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203-1181
United States

HOME PAGE: http://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/owen-jones

Robert Kurzban

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Psychology ( email )

3720 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6196
United States

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