Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state or condition of being punitive.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

punitive +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • These excessive procedures contributed to a new punitiveness in criminal sentencing, Mr. Stuntz says.

    Crimes, Courts And Cures Paul G. Cassell 2011

  • Though these cases cover relatively narrow issues, this is an opportune time to start raising more serious questions about meaningfully fighting the extraordinary levels of punitiveness toward young people and adults that should be a source of shame for our nation

    Alexandra Cox: Why Brain Science Is Bad for Juvenile Justice 2009

  • This growth is not attributable to increased offending rates, but to increased punitiveness.

    Can Our Shameful Prisons Be Reformed? Cole, David 2009

  • What we have found, really broadly, is the higher level of punitiveness among political conservatives is really strongly associated with experiences, generally, of harsh punishment from childhood.

    See No Evil 2008

  • Yukl and Van Fleet 1982 found numerous critical incidents of management by exception and contingent punitiveness among officers in Korea, such as: “Checks to see that tasks are accomplished satisfactorily.”

    The Bass Handbook of Leadership Bernard M. Bass 2008

  • Yukl and Van Fleet 1982 found numerous critical incidents of management by exception and contingent punitiveness among officers in Korea, such as: “Checks to see that tasks are accomplished satisfactorily.”

    The Bass Handbook of Leadership Bernard M. Bass 2008

  • More dangerous for society is that the particular nature of the right's moral vision-its relative harshness and its punitiveness-transforms the impulses of the human animal into something darker.

    Moral Exo-Skeletons and Endo-Skeletons: A Key Divide in the American Body Politic 2006

  • And the research that we have shows that getting a college education is the best thing that someone can do and not come back to the criminal justice system, and yet in this continuing punitiveness that's reflected not just in our sentencing policies, but also in welfare and child welfare policies, we've stripped all of those resources from the system so that people come out worse than they went in and with no supports.

    CNN Transcript Oct 10, 2004 2004

  • But now, under the terms of such acts as the Immorality Act and the Provision of Separate Facilities Act, this social segregation has become official policy, zealously pursued, enforced with incredible punitiveness.

    Report on South Africa 1969

  • But now, under the terms of such acts as the Immorality Act and the Provision of Separate Facilities Act, this social segregation has become official policy, zealously pursued, enforced with incredible punitiveness.

    Report on South Africa 1960

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