Editing Murray Rothbard (section)

=== Retributive theory of criminal justice ===
In ''The Ethics of Liberty'', Rothbard advocates for a "frankly [[Retributive justice|retributive]] theory of punishment" or a system of "a tooth (or two teeth) for a tooth".<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/thirteen.asp |chapter=Punishment and Proportionality |pages=85–97 |author=Rothbard, Murray |title=The Ethics of Liberty |publisher=New York University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8147-7506-6 |access-date=September 13, 2014 |archive-date=November 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141117215622/http://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/thirteen.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> Rothbard emphasizes that all punishment must be proportional, stating that "the criminal, or invader, loses his rights to the extent that he deprived another man of his".<ref name=":6">Morimura, Susumu (1999). "Libertarian theories of punishment." In P. Smith & P. Comanducci (Eds.), ''Legal Philosophy: General Aspects: Theoretical Examinations and Practical Application'' (pp. 135–38). New York: Franz Steiner Verlag.</ref> Applying his retributive theory, Rothbard states that a thief "must pay double the extent of theft". Rothbard gives the example of a thief who stole $15,000 and says he would have to return the stolen money and provide the victim an additional $15,000, money to which the thief has forfeited his right. The thief would be "put in a [temporary] state of enslavement to his victim"{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} if he is unable to pay him immediately. Rothbard also applies his theory to justify beating and torturing violent criminals, although the beatings are required to be proportional to the crimes for which they are being punished.

==== Torture of criminal suspects ====
In chapter twelve of ''Ethics'',<ref name=SelfDefense>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/twelve.asp |chapter=Self-Defense |pages=77–84 |author=Rothbard, Murray |title=The Ethics of Liberty |publisher=New York University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8147-7506-6 |access-date=September 13, 2014 |archive-date=September 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914010256/https://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/twelve.asp |url-status=live }}</ref> Rothbard turns his attention to suspects arrested by the police.<ref name="Callahan" /> He argues that police should be able to torture certain types of criminal suspects, including accused murderers, for information related to their alleged crimes. Writes Rothbard: "Suppose ... police beat and torture a suspected murderer to find information (not to wring a confession, since obviously a coerced confession could never be considered valid). If the suspect turns out to be guilty, then the police should be exonerated, for then they have only ladled out to the murderer a parcel of what he deserves in return; his rights had already been forfeited by more than that extent. But if the suspect is not convicted, then that means that the police have beaten and tortured an innocent man, and that they in turn must be put into the dock for criminal assault".<ref name=SelfDefense/> Gene Callahan examines this position and concludes that Rothbard rejects the widely held belief that torture is inherently wrong, no matter who the victim. Callahan goes on to state that Rothbard's scheme gives the police a strong motive to [[Frameup|frame]] the suspect after having tortured him or her.<ref name="Callahan" />