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Drawing on some of his previously published work, this book constitutes Bill Wringe’s most systematic and comprehensive attempt to date to develop and argue for what he refers to as a ‘denunciatory theory’of punishment. Like most other expressive theories of punishment, his denunciatory theory holds that (1) what distinguishes punishment from other kinds of harsh treatments is that it expresses certain messages of disapproval and (2) that it is in virtue of the kind of messages of disapproval it expresses that punishment is to be justified, at least in the pro tanto sense (p. 23). In particular, according to Wringe’s denunciatory theory, punishment is justifiable in virtue of it expressing a message of disapproval that ‘certain norms are in force and that transgressions against them are viewed seriously’(p. 24), and this message is directed not just to the offender but also to the wider political community in which the offender …