Morris B. Hoffman is a trial judge for the Second Judicial District (Denver), State of Colorado. He is a member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Research Network on Law and Neuroscience and is a Research Fellow at the Gruter Institute for Law and Behavioral Research. He is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver, where he teaches courses on jury history and selection, law and neuroscience, and law and the biology of human nature. His law articles have appeared in many journals, including the law reviews of the University of Chicago, New York University, the University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, George Mason University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, and Vanderbilt University. He has written op-eds on legal topics for several national newspapers, including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. His scientific publications include papers in The Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions B and Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience. Judge Hoffman received his JD from the University of Colorado School of Law.

'A thought-provoking and engaging look at one of the oldest questions in morality and law - what is the point of punishment? With advances in the biological study of human nature, increased awareness of long-term historical progress in our attitudes toward retribution, and new concerns about current incarceration practices, this is an especially timely and important book.' Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of The Blank Slate and The Better Angels of our Nature

• Introduction; 1. The most original of original sins; 2. Detecting and blaming; 3. First-party punishment: conscience and guilt; 4. Second-party punishment: retaliation and revenge; 5. Third-party punishment: retribution; 6. Forgiveness and its signals; 7. Delegating punishment; 8. Legal dissonances; 9. Evaluating some process dissonances; 10. Into the gap: evaluating some substantive dissonances; 11. Brains punishing brains.