The crisis of moral legitimacy of criminal punishment in contemporary societies

Abstract

This study examines the ethical legitimacy of criminal punishment in contemporary societies amid profound transformations in value systems, state authority, and governance. It argues that the crisis of punishment extends beyond functional failure in deterrence or rehabilitation to a deeper erosion of its moral foundation. The paper analyzes this crisis through the decline of moral desert and the shift from crime as an ethical act to crime as social risk, turning punishment into a tool of risk management. It also highlights the dominance of utilitarian and security rationales, leading to overcriminalization and weakened proportionality. The study concludes that overcoming this crisis requires re-grounding punishment in a moral, maqāṣid-based framework that reconnects law with justice and human dignity.