Care and Punishment

Care ethics is a branch of moral philosophy that focuses on how we relate to, respond to, and care for each other. Its central question is not about what abstract principles of justice we should follow, but rather about how we should respond to the needs of a given person in a particular set of circumstances.It’s been around for several decades, but now one of our colleagues here at UCL has applied it to a setting that we might not think its natural home: the world of punishment. Dr Helen Brown Coverdale argues that looking at our practices of punishment through the lens of care gives us a new and valuable perspective on them.So what would it mean to approach punishment through an ethic of care? And what counterarguments might there be to taking such an approach?Host: Dr Alan RenwickDr Helen Brown Coverdale Caring and the Prison in Philosophy, Policy and Practice: Under Lock and Key