> One criminal law professor at a top law school told me he’s even stopped teaching theories of punishment because of how negatively students react to retributi

> One criminal law professor at a top law school told me he’s even stopped teaching theories of punishment because of how negatively students react to retributivism—the view that punishment is justified because criminals deserve to suffer. While stopping teaching due to student fragility is rather unfortunate. I have to say this is one aspect of America's brand of justice that I think needs to change. My lay understanding is that retribution simply does not work -- and often is actually counterproductive, especially once you price in the cost of enacting the retribution. Furthermore a vengeful society or plaintiff needs to have some cooling off time, or spiritual growth to come to grips with the reality that life is full of horrific things and that making the best of it (neither nihilism nor resentfulness) is the true optimization of the system. Instead I'd suggest that American justice needs to focus purely on rehabilitation. How can what remains be optimized? Yes that might even include giving an education to a <insert deplorable> so that they can contribute net positively to society.