Matthew C. Altman is Professor of Philosophy at Central Washington University, USA. He is the author of A Companion to Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” (2008) and Kant and Applied Ethics (2011), coauthor of The Fractured Self in Freud and German Philosophy (2013), editor of The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism (2014) and The Palgrave Kant Handbook (2017), and series editor of Palgrave Handbooks in German Idealism and Palgrave Handbooks in the Philosophy of Law. He has also published numerous articles on applied ethics, philosophy of law, and the history of philosophy.

• Part I Defining Punishment1 Crimes and BurdensPart II Normative Foundations2 Preserving the Public Order: A Defense of Consequentialism3 The Rational and the Reasonable4 Expressing Resentment: A Defense of Retributivism5 The Two-Tiered Model of PunishmentPart III Three Arguments6 The Epistemic Argument7 The Compatibilist Argument8 The Moral ArgumentPart IV Decision Procedure9 In Defense of Criminology10 On Proportionality11 Jury Nullification and Reflective EquilibriumPart V Applications12 Consequences of Capital Punishment13 Retribution and Restorative Justice

Philosophers will enjoy this book for its interdisciplinary insights and thoughtful analysis, but we non-philosopher workers in the criminal law orchard will be thrilled to have the book’s accessible insights into solving the real world problems of both doing justice and fighting crime. Not many books of philosophy can provide such a real contribution to making the criminal law better.– Paul H. Robinson, Colin S. Diver Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania.Professor Altman brings fresh insight to the debate between consequentialist and retributivist theories of punishment by highlighting how important it is to consider the institutional actor imposing punishment. Altman's two-tiered model explains why legislative and judicial actors should be viewed through different lenses. This is the rare book that speaks both to those interested in the philosophy of punishment and those concerned with practical questions of institutional design in an age of mass incarceration.– Rachel Barkow, Vice Dean and Professor, NYU School of Law; and author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. Political discourse on the merits of criminal sanction policies is invariably argued in consequentialist terms – the sanction’s crime-prevention benefits and the social cost of the sanction – without consideration of the justness of punishment for the crime committed. The result far too often is tragic miscarriages of justice. Altman’s fine book offers a two-tiered system to remedy this myopia. If legislatures and the courts follow his lead, the punishment can fit the crime.– Daniel S. Nagin, Teresa and H. John Heinz III University Professor of Public Policy and Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University.

Matthew C. Altman is Professor of Philosophy at Central Washington University, USA. He is the author of A Companion to Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” (2008) and Kant and Applied Ethics (2011), coauthor of The Fractured Self in Freud and German Philosophy (2013), editor of The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism (2014) and The Palgrave Kant Handbook (2017), and series editor of Palgrave Handbooks in German Idealism and Palgrave Handbooks in the Philosophy of Law. He has also published numerous articles on applied ethics, philosophy of law, and the history of philosophy.

• Part I Defining Punishment1 Crimes and BurdensPart II Normative Foundations2 Preserving the Public Order: A Defense of Consequentialism3 The Rational and the Reasonable4 Expressing Resentment: A Defense of Retributivism5 The Two-Tiered Model of PunishmentPart III Three Arguments6 The Epistemic Argument7 The Compatibilist Argument8 The Moral ArgumentPart IV Decision Procedure9 In Defense of Criminology10 On Proportionality11 Jury Nullification and Reflective EquilibriumPart V Applications12 Consequences of Capital Punishment13 Retribution and Restorative Justice

Philosophers will enjoy this book for its interdisciplinary insights and thoughtful analysis, but we non-philosopher workers in the criminal law orchard will be thrilled to have the book’s accessible insights into solving the real world problems of both doing justice and fighting crime. Not many books of philosophy can provide such a real contribution to making the criminal law better.– Paul H. Robinson, Colin S. Diver Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania.Professor Altman brings fresh insight to the debate between consequentialist and retributivist theories of punishment by highlighting how important it is to consider the institutional actor imposing punishment. Altman's two-tiered model explains why legislative and judicial actors should be viewed through different lenses. This is the rare book that speaks both to those interested in the philosophy of punishment and those concerned with practical questions of institutional design in an age of mass incarceration.– Rachel Barkow, Vice Dean and Professor, NYU School of Law; and author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. Political discourse on the merits of criminal sanction policies is invariably argued in consequentialist terms – the sanction’s crime-prevention benefits and the social cost of the sanction – without consideration of the justness of punishment for the crime committed. The result far too often is tragic miscarriages of justice. Altman’s fine book offers a two-tiered system to remedy this myopia. If legislatures and the courts follow his lead, the punishment can fit the crime.– Daniel S. Nagin, Teresa and H. John Heinz III University Professor of Public Policy and Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University.

Matthew C. Altman is Professor of Philosophy at Central Washington University, USA. He is the author of A Companion to Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” (2008) and Kant and Applied Ethics (2011), coauthor of The Fractured Self in Freud and German Philosophy (2013), editor of The Palgrave Handbook of German Idealism (2014) and The Palgrave Kant Handbook (2017), and series editor of Palgrave Handbooks in German Idealism and Palgrave Handbooks in the Philosophy of Law. He has also published numerous articles on applied ethics, philosophy of law, and the history of philosophy.

• Part I Defining Punishment1 Crimes and BurdensPart II Normative Foundations2 Preserving the Public Order: A Defense of Consequentialism3 The Rational and the Reasonable4 Expressing Resentment: A Defense of Retributivism5 The Two-Tiered Model of PunishmentPart III Three Arguments6 The Epistemic Argument7 The Compatibilist Argument8 The Moral ArgumentPart IV Decision Procedure9 In Defense of Criminology10 On Proportionality11 Jury Nullification and Reflective EquilibriumPart V Applications12 Consequences of Capital Punishment13 Retribution and Restorative Justice

Philosophers will enjoy this book for its interdisciplinary insights and thoughtful analysis, but we non-philosopher workers in the criminal law orchard will be thrilled to have the book’s accessible insights into solving the real world problems of both doing justice and fighting crime. Not many books of philosophy can provide such a real contribution to making the criminal law better.– Paul H. Robinson, Colin S. Diver Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania.Professor Altman brings fresh insight to the debate between consequentialist and retributivist theories of punishment by highlighting how important it is to consider the institutional actor imposing punishment. Altman's two-tiered model explains why legislative and judicial actors should be viewed through different lenses. This is the rare book that speaks both to those interested in the philosophy of punishment and those concerned with practical questions of institutional design in an age of mass incarceration.– Rachel Barkow, Vice Dean and Professor, NYU School of Law; and author of Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. Political discourse on the merits of criminal sanction policies is invariably argued in consequentialist terms – the sanction’s crime-prevention benefits and the social cost of the sanction – without consideration of the justness of punishment for the crime committed. The result far too often is tragic miscarriages of justice. Altman’s fine book offers a two-tiered system to remedy this myopia. If legislatures and the courts follow his lead, the punishment can fit the crime.– Daniel S. Nagin, Teresa and H. John Heinz III University Professor of Public Policy and Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University.