Free Will Skepticism, Just Deserts and Justice without Retribution: An Interview with Farah Focquaert

0491845 - FLÚ 2019 RIV BE eng J - Journal Article
Marvan, Tomáš - Focquaert, F.
Free Will Skepticism, Just Deserts and Justice without Retribution: An Interview with Farah Focquaert.
Tijdschrift voor Filosofie. Roč. 80, č. 1 (2018), s. 93-105. ISSN 1370-575X
Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) StrategieAV21/13
Program: StrategieAV
Institutional support: RVO:67985955
Keywords : Farah Focquaert * criminal justice * retribution * just deserts * free-will skepticism * compatibilism * moral responsibility * neuro-ethics * Justice without Retribution Network
OECD category: Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology

In this interview, bioethicist Farah Focquaert explains the basic principles of a non-retributive conception of criminal justice. First, the central notions underlying retributivism that of free will and desert-based responsibility are addressed in a critical way. Focquaert then goes on to canvass a new way of conceiving the purposes of the system of criminal justice, with reconceptualized notions of personal responsibility and of sanctions forming its backbone. Focquaert argues that a society can remain safe and healthy without retributive measures, provided that an emphasis is placed on the prevention of crime, on the rehabilitation of the offenders and on the all-important perspective of the victim. The interview also considers the value of retributive emotions and the proper role of the new biomedical and neuroscientific technologies in the framework of the criminal justice system.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0286652