Why punish? The questions burns because punishments hurt. So either they are wrong, or they need justifying. Whether we inflict the punishment or suffer it, then, we need either to give or to receive a moral account of why it is taking place. And, as crimes are a commonplace, so the justification of their punishment should be frequently heard. This book is an essay in the philosophy of punishment, a discussion, from several aspects, of the problems inherent in justifying penal institutions. Thus it is in part exegetic; but in part is contentious, not least because the issue is a controversial one.