Human knowledge has come so far that we now know that people's behaviours are caused by a confluence of factors including genetic, historical, circumstantial, hormonal, emotional, situational etc. It is time to throw away retribution as a reason for punishment, and really focus on the 'proper ' reasons for putting people in jail: deterring others, deterring the offender, protecting society, and enabling rehabilitation. retribution doesn't have a place in this list anymore.