Vengeance and Mercy: Implications of Psychoanalytic Theory for the Retributive Theory of Punishment

Authors

Kent A. Wilson, Law-Psychology Graduate Training Program, University of Nebraska

Abstract

This article extends the merger of law and social science to the areas of retribution and criminal punishment. More specifically, it examines the concept of retribution from historical, philosophical, and psychological points of view. The goal is to develop an integrated concept of retribution, and to discern variables that psychological theory and research indicate are relevant to legal theories and practices in the area of retributive punishment.

Recommended Citation

Kent A. Wilson, Vengeance and Mercy: Implications of Psychoanalytic Theory for the Retributive Theory of Punishment, 60 Neb. L. Rev. (1981)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/nlr/vol60/iss2/3