Mirror punishment
Encyclopedia
A mirror punishment is a penal form of poetic justice
which reflects the nature or means of the crime in the means of (often physical) punishment as a form of retributive justice
— the practice of “repaying” a wrongdoer ‘in kind’.
It can be an application of the lex talionis (“an eye for an eye
”), but is not always proportional justice, as a similar method may be used to produce a worse or milder effect than the crime it ‘retaliates’.
The simplest method of mirror punishment is to enact the same action upon the criminal as the criminal perpetrated upon the victim. For example, thieves have the same amount of money taken from them as they stole; one who strikes another is struck in the same way; one who wilfully causes another person’s death is killed; and so on.
Often, however, a more esoteric method of mirror punishment is used, which implies punishing the part of the criminal’s body used to commit the crime. Extreme examples include the amputation of the hands of a thief, as still permitted by Sharia
law, or during the Middle Ages
in Europe
; or disabling the foot or leg of a runaway slave. Other examples include the punishment of adulterous
women by the insertion of irritating substances into their vaginas (in the past hot pokers were sometimes used). A less extreme example is putting soap into a child’s mouth for using inappropriate language (referred to in English as “washing someone’s mouth out with soap”).
Another method to accomplish ‘poetic justice’ is to mirror the physical method of the crime, e.g. executing a murderer with his own weapon, burning arsonists alive, or in a more far-fetched example, boiling a counterfeiter alive (because bullion is boiled to be minted).
Poetic justice
Poetic justice is a literary device in which virtue is ultimately rewarded or vice punished, often in modern literature by an ironic twist of fate intimately related to the character's own conduct.- Origin of the term :...
which reflects the nature or means of the crime in the means of (often physical) punishment as a form of retributive justice
Retributive justice
Retributive justice is a theory of justice that considers that punishment, if proportionate, is a morally acceptable response to crime, with an eye to the satisfaction and psychological benefits it can bestow to the aggrieved party, its intimates and society....
— the practice of “repaying” a wrongdoer ‘in kind’.
It can be an application of the lex talionis (“an eye for an eye
An eye for an eye
The meaning of the principle, an eye for an eye, is that a person who has injured another person receives the same injury in compensation. The exact Latin to English translation of this phrase is actually "The law of retaliation." At the root of this principle is that one of the purposes of the...
”), but is not always proportional justice, as a similar method may be used to produce a worse or milder effect than the crime it ‘retaliates’.
The simplest method of mirror punishment is to enact the same action upon the criminal as the criminal perpetrated upon the victim. For example, thieves have the same amount of money taken from them as they stole; one who strikes another is struck in the same way; one who wilfully causes another person’s death is killed; and so on.
Often, however, a more esoteric method of mirror punishment is used, which implies punishing the part of the criminal’s body used to commit the crime. Extreme examples include the amputation of the hands of a thief, as still permitted by Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law, or during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
; or disabling the foot or leg of a runaway slave. Other examples include the punishment of adulterous
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
women by the insertion of irritating substances into their vaginas (in the past hot pokers were sometimes used). A less extreme example is putting soap into a child’s mouth for using inappropriate language (referred to in English as “washing someone’s mouth out with soap”).
Another method to accomplish ‘poetic justice’ is to mirror the physical method of the crime, e.g. executing a murderer with his own weapon, burning arsonists alive, or in a more far-fetched example, boiling a counterfeiter alive (because bullion is boiled to be minted).