Criminal justice and the liberal good of ‘order’

Recent liberal political theory – and political philosophy generally – has had little to say about the criminal justice system, focusing instead on concerns of pluralism and social welfare. But I argue in this article that ‘order’ is a necessary precondition for any flourishing society, including a liberal one, and that the criminal justice system can be part of securing that order. Borrowing from Paul Weithman, I identify two types of order: ‘imposed order,’ which seems to be especially the province of the criminal justice system (that is, police and punishment) and ‘inherent order,’ which is the kind of order a society has when its principles win support over time from its adherents. Although I concede that inherent order is obviously more desirable, some kind of imposed order may be necessary as a precondition for that inherent order. In particular, the kind of pluralism and social welfare that liberal societies value may not be possible, let alone succeed, without a basis in imposed order.