These constraining considerations (e.g., forbidding deliberate punishment of the innocent or excessively harsh punishment of the guilty) do not flow from punishment's rationale itself.
Punishment (philosophical concept)(as used in ethics and jurisprudence)
In philosophy, this refers to the deliberate infliction of harm or penalty, and philosophers debate what justifies it and what purposes it should serve.
Rationale(as used in philosophy and reasoning)
The underlying reason or logic for why something is justified or makes sense.
Perhaps the most influential example of a mixed account begins by recognizing that the question of punishment’s justification is in fact several different questions, which may be answered by appeal to different considerations. In particular, Hart (1968: 9–10) pointed out that we may ask about punishment, as about any social institution, what compelling rationale there is to maintain the institution (that is, what values or aims it fosters) and also what considerations should govern the institution. The compelling rationale will itself entail certain constraints: e.g., the rationale of deterren...