Retributivism or Utilitarianism

So, in our criminal law class we have been talking about two different approaches to the punishment of criminals. These two approaches are retributivism and utilitarianism. I will give a definition of each, taken from lexisnexis.com, which is a legal research website.

Utilitarians consider the effect of a form of punishment in terms of both general deterrence and specific (or individual) deterrence. When the goal is general deterrence, punishment is imposed in order to dissuade the community at large to forego criminal conduct in the future. When the goal is specific deterrence, punishment is meant to deter future misconduct by an individual defendant by both preventing him from committing crimes against society during the period of his incarceration (incapacitation), and reinforcing to him the consequences of future crimes (intimidation).

That is the definition for Utilitarians in the law. I would like to add that by my reading in our text book, utilitarians don't punish unless there is utility for the punishment. The punishment must have a purpose, or use.

Retributivism – Under a retributive theory of penal law, a convicted defendant is punished simply because he deserves it. There is no exterior motive such as deterring others from crime or protecting society – here the goal is to make the defendant suffer in order to pay for his crime. Retributive theory assigns punishment on a proportional basis so that crimes that cause greater harm or are committed with a higher degree of culpability (e.g, intentional versus negligent) receive more severe punishment than lesser criminal activity.

That is the definition for Retributivism in the law. I would like to add that by my reading in our text book, retributists don't punish to reform, to deter, or to incapacitate, they simply punish because someone has done something wrong. They don't care about utility in punishment.

So my question is . . . which do you think God subscribes to? Or, in what way does God view punishment? I would guide your thoughts to ask this question, is there always utility when God punishes, does he ever punish just because somebody did something wrong?

I imagine that both points will be strongly argued. I hope that this is the case. I will add my viewpoint along the way. I have had this conversation with a couple of people and I think a lot of this discussion has to do with what you view punishment to be, so in a way it turns into semantics. That is fine with me, as long as we decide upon meanings for words. I may add more to the post when people start raising different questions/concerns.

I hope all who read my blog will post, even those who don't post very often . . . Becky, Sam, Cindy, Dan . . . anyone else. I think this questions shows us a lot about what we think about God and his laws. I would love to hear everyone's viewpoint.