What Does "Deserve" Mean?

We say that a criminal deserves his punishment.

What does that mean exactly?

Could he have acted differently?

Is his programming his “fault”?

No matter how horrific his crime, we know of no way for him to override his brain.

We can say that we are forced to set up a system of deterrence.

This is because with deterrence he might not have committed the crime;

Even if without deterrence he is willing to.

But this is about deterrence and has nothing to do with deserving.

So, can we create a new meaning for the word “deserve” to use instead?

Or do we have to abandon all use of the word.

Is the word just a way of fooling ourselves so that we shouldn’t feel bad about inflicting pain?

Perhaps we can create a new meaning for the word, after all.

Imagine that I can create a system that only deters a minority of potential criminals.

I could invent an optimal scheme that reduces crime but minimizes the pain I must inflict.

But. The scheme is totally unfair and biased.

I assume almost everybody would reject such a system.

So, instead, we build a strong emotional commitment to a system that must have two qualities:

1. It deters.

2. It is fair; It applies equally to everybody without distinction as to who they are.

It is within such a system that we use the word “deserve”.

We mean that within any reasonable deterrence system that is basically equitable, a crime that is heinous enough, qualifies for punishment.

The criminal does not deserve the punishment because he is so evil.

He only “deserves” it in the sense that a fair and blind application of the law applies in his case.

On a final note.

This also answers another question.

There are some criminals for whom the punishment is no deterrent.

We already know that it will not have the effect of preventing the crime.

Why should they be punished?

Because the system must apply to all.

In total, the punishment deters enough people to cause the sum total of pain inflicted to be justified by the benefit to society as a whole.

Photo by Andreas Fischinger on Unsplash