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In retributivism, one strives to justify criminal punishment simply by referring to the punishment as the consequence that the criminal plainly deserves and arguing that there is no need to present any utilitarian justifi cations for applying punishments. At present, more and more research results are mounting up that suggest various objective circumstances as causes for predisposition of certain persons to commit crimes, and some research suggests that there are several treatments that may in some cases be more suitably employed instead of criminal punishments. With this paper, I undertake to appraise whether these novel approaches leave any room for retributivist ideas.