Punishment takes the form of suffering inflicted on the sinner because the person of the sinner, body and soul, is the appropriate sphere in which to answer the sin. The sin attaches to the sinner as his act, arising from his will, and so he is the proper place in which to punish it. As O’Donovan explains, “Punishment is thus justified in general because the person, property, or liberty of the condemned party is the only possible, or the most apt, locus for the enactment of a judgment.”
