This volume critically explores the basis and the goal of punishment from the standpoint of the right to punish. Studies and works dedicated to punishment are scarce compared to those dedicated to Crime Theory or some aspect thereof. The book reviews the main doctrines that have dealt with the theme of punishment from Antiquity to the present, not limiting itself to the legal-philosophical sphere but also analyzing the contributions from other social sciences. It then explores how these are reflected in the sphere of Positive Law. Moving from the most abstract and general to the most concrete and specific, various themes relating to the concept of punishment are distinguished which are not exactly equivalent but which are, nevertheless, often terminologically confused with one another. These thematic blocks are: Punishment; Punitive Practice; Sentence and Penalty. Of these the third - Sentence, which is the least generic concept dealt with, having to do with that patch of law which basically constitutes Criminal Law - forms the central part of the work. In this section, via a dual structure, the distinction is made between punishments and deterrents, as the prime types of punitive practice, with a distinct historical tradition, diverse bases and functions, around which different sorts of theories and schools have developed.

The book ends with a series of critical conclusions as to what, in the opinion of the authors, should be a correct conception of punishment.