retributive justice

n. Retributive justice is a theory of criminal justice in which the criminal has created an imbalance in society that must be balanced by a proportional action against the criminal. This point of view has often been associated with harsh punishments such as cutting off the hand of the criminal and among Christian cultures with the biblical phrase “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” In some cultures and for some crimes the primary imbalance is economic, in others it is harm to persons, and in others it is harm to a theoretical entity such as family honor.