Source: (2013) New Criminal Law Review. 16(1): 1-49.
Court-ordered apologies add very little of value to the meanings and functions
already present in contemporary legal pceedings and punishment. They also
present considerablec osts. This articlef int evaluates Kant’s infamous advocacy
for court-ordered apologies as retributive humiliation as well arguments from
contemporary Kantians who support court-ordered apologies on somewhat less
divisive grounds. It then considers various consequentialist arguments for and
against court-ordered apologies. Throughout these discussions clean distinctions
between voluntary and involuntary apologies deteriorate. Any value we might
derive from court-ordered apologies can probably be better realized through less
problematic means. (author’s abstract)
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