It has been argued that empirical science undermines the claim that people can deserve punishment, and that the criminal justice system therefore ought to be radically reformed. Such arguments lose their force if moral responsibility and desert do not depend on what caused the action, but on the agent's choice. We solve one problem for the justification of the criminal justice system, but create another one; if moral responsibility depends on the offender's choice, finding out to what extent she was responsible might be very difficult.
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