A Reply to Professor Brodeur

Extract

I welcome the opportunity to respond to Professor Brodeur's thoughtful and provocative comments on my paper. Notwithstanding the gracious tone of his rejoinder, I am afraid that I must take issue with several points that Professor Brodeur makes.

The concept of “collective punishment” is a rather elastic one that lends itself to a wide range of interpretation. I believe that ambiguity in the interpretation of “collective punishment” lies at the heart of the differences between Professor Brodeur and myself.

To elaborate, let me begin by drawing a sharp distinction between the following two types of policy:

(i) an authority punishes, in an undifferentiated way, each member of a group (of suspects) known to comprise innocent and guilty individuals;

(ii) an authority punishes a guilty individual, but in doing so, unintentionally or unavoidably causes a harmful effect upon innocent third parties.