Pena e vendetta: la linea sottile della reazione sociale

The relationship between punishment and revenge seems to propose the idea of an epochal transition from premodern societies to modern ones, but the desire for payback against the guilty still finds an answer in today’s penal systems. Starting from the Durkheimian perspective that sees revenge as an act of social defense, this paper emphasizes how even in today’s societies, in which it is formally replaced by the “just punishment”, the soul of punishment remains the vindictive need. Legal systems show themselves as système vindicatoire, as evidenced by the existence of prisons and above all by the survival of the death penalty in some countries. In this perspective, punishment is the manifestation of an individualistic and security-related logic, not interested in collective well-being and social bond, an expression of an upper hand of psychic facts, of the individual, over society and the common conscience. We are in the presence of a society of individuals who express a vindictive instinct, which the institutions manage and convey.