Analyzes impact of lex talionis on punishment severity in criminal justice systems, implying a need for reform.
In this article, I operationalize the classical retributive formulation of proportionality—lex talionis, or ``an eye for an eye''—to give some conservative estimates of what it might entail as a limit on the severity of permissible punishment. Respecting lex talionis would entail a radically lenient transformation of the criminal legal systems of the United States (and many other countries), reducing incarceration for nonhomicide offenses by at least an order of magnitude.
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Christopher Lewis (2025) studied this question.
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