<philosophical terminology> deliberate infliction of harm as a moral sanction against offenders. Punishment may be understood, designed, and applied according to any of the three major varieties of normative theory: retribution and reparation focus on satisfaction of duties, deterrence and prevention on securing desirable outcomes, and reform and rehabilitation on improving moral character. Recommended Reading: Nigel Walker, Why Punish? (Oxford, 1991); David A. Hoekema, Rights and Wrongs: Coercion, Punishment and the State (Susquehanna, 1987); Punishment, ed. by John Simmons, Marshall En, Joshua Cohen, and Thomas Scanlon (Princeton, 1994); Louis P. Pojman and Jeffrey Reiman, The Death Penalty (Rowman & Littlefield, 1998); and David Garland, Punishment and Modern Society: A Study in Social Theory (Chicago, 1993).
[A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names]
Try this search on OneLook / Google