Discourse and practice that prioritize punishment as the primary —and often sole— response to crime, assuming that harsher sentences reduce criminality.
Punitivism enjoys broad support in media and political common sense, yet international empirical evidence shows that harsher sentences do not significantly reduce crime rates — and do increase prison overcrowding and recidivism.
Liberté explicitly proposes dismantling the punitive lens through cooperativism and restorative justice.