Definitions HQ

Punishment (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be dreamt as a wish: 'It would serve me right.'

Punishment (n.) suffered ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠in childhood leaves ineradicable memories that fasten later on the ‘dies irae’ of our stiffest examinations.

Punishment (n.) meted ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠out to the unpopular fits not their wrongdoing but their wrongdoing plus all the ill-feeling that had been waiting for an excuse.

Punishment (n.) began ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠with taboo: first the violated taboo itself took vengeance, then the gods, and finally society — so the earliest penal systems trace back to taboo.

Punishment (n.) protects ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the punishers from themselves: if the violation went unavenged, they would become aware that they wanted to do the same.

Punishment (n.) lets ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the punishers commit the same outrage under colour of expiation — it rests on the assumption that the forbidden impulse lives alike in criminal and avenging community.

Punishment (n.) must ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be exacted for the unconscious even if it does not fall upon the guilty — like the village that hanged a tailor because its only blacksmith had committed the crime.