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Erin Kelly: The Failure of Retributive Justice

Date of Lecture: October 9, 2019

Erin KellyAbout the Speaker: Erin Kelly is professor of philosophy at Tufts University and author of "The Limits of Blame: Rethinking Punishment and Responsibility” (Harvard University Press, 2018).

About the Talk: The belief that people convicted of crimes deserve punishment is commonplace. Yet, Kelly argues, the punitive conception of individual responsibility commonly associated with retributive justice exaggerates the moral meaning of criminal guilt, normalizes excessive punishment, and distracts from shared responsibility for social injustice.

Her talk is part of the Philosophy Colloquia at Holy Cross.