Public Criminal Records and Just Punishment

Abstract This chapter considers whether publicizing criminal records is justified as punishment for criminal acts. It begins by arguing that stigmatization and the public labelling of criminals that triggers it are not in some sense essential to punishment, as some theorists have implied, but rather must be defended by appeal to their contribution to one or more of the justifying aims of punishment. It then considers and rejects two potential justifications for public labelling, grounded in communication and deterrence, respectively. The arguments in this chapter suggest that publicizing criminal labels cannot be justified as a ‘collateral consequence’ of punishment. Yet they do support the defence of a distinct line of penal reasoning in support of publicizing criminal records, namely the ‘flypaper strategy’. This argues that publicizing criminal records is sometimes necessary to facilitate or enable criminal accountability, especially with respect to serial but ‘hidden’ crimes like rape, sexual assault, and other crimes of abuse.