Social and philosophical analysis of punishment or why do we need restorative justice system

This article considers an important for modern society issue, i.e. punishment. The author analyses the works of Zеra H., Braitwaite J., Christie N., etc. The article attempts to trace the long history of punishment from primitive societies, through medieval Inquisition and cruelty of absolutist monarchies to liberal views on the individual punishment and the modern idea on reestablishment of relations among an offender, a victim and a community as a whole. The author takes the idea of restorative relations as the basis of modern punishment in humanitarian society, combining it with traditional contents of penalty for the Ukraine.