The aim of the paper is to investigate how retributivists should respond to the apparent tension between moral desert and proportionality in punishment. I argue that rather than attempting to show that the term ‘proportionate punishment’ refers to whatever penal treatment the offender morally deserves, retributivists should maintain two things: first, that a punishment is proportionate when it is commensurate to the seriousness of the crime; second, that offenders morally deserve proportionate punishments. This view requires adopting a local theory of desert as opposed to a holistic one. In the second part of the paper, I argue that there are indeed good reasons to adopt a local theory of desert. Once retributivism is seen through the lens of local desert, there is no obvious mistake in saying that offenders morally deserve punishments that are proportionate to the seriousness of their crimes.

本文的目的是研究报应主义者应如何应对道德荒漠与惩罚相称之间的明显张力。我认为，分配主义者不应试图证明“相称惩罚”一词是指罪犯在道德上应享有的任何刑法待遇，而应坚持两点：第一，当惩罚与犯罪的严重性相称时，惩罚是相称的；第二，罪犯在道义上应受到应有的惩罚。这种观点要求采用局部的沙漠理论，而不是整体的理论。在本文的第二部分中，我认为采用本地沙漠理论确实有充分的理由。一旦通过当地沙漠的镜头看到了分配主义，