John Rawls and Criminal Law: Relevance of the Theory of Justice to the Study of Resocialization

Abstract

This article explores a proposal that raises the relevance of John Rawls' theory of justice in the field of criminal law. It begins by explaining the meaning of the fundamental components of this theory to then argue its application within a very important institution of criminal law: resocialization. From the still incipient discussion on the neocontractualist weighting of punitive power, the results of this study reveal that resocialization outlines a new Rawlsian political reading of criminal law. This reading revolves around the following assumptions: the political conception of the principles of justice, social cooperation and equality of opportunity in the equitable distribution of primary social goods, and the idea of the prison population as a less advantaged group in society.