Tension reigns between mercy and justice. Mercy seasons justice – it gives less than what justice mandates – and in that sense, it requires a departure from justice. But a departure from justice is unjust. On the other hand, if mercy is not distinct from justice, then it is redundant. Mercy would not be mercy, it would simply be justice. Mercy either undermines or collapses into justice, rendering it apparently impossible to be both just and merciful. If mercy is to have an appropriate place in a criminal justice system that prizes justice, we must articulate an uncompromising mercy; a mercy that compromises neither justice nor itself. In this thesis, I argue that mercy is uncompromising when it is given not for reasons of justice, but for other good reasons that do not conflict with justice. I argue that one such reason is that the punisher stands in a relation of liability toward the offender
