University of Guilan (with the participation of the Iranian Association of Penal Law) Criminal Law Research 2322-2328 Articles in Press 2026 05 10 Punishment, Suffering, and Target-Centeredness: A Philosophical Reconsideration of the Nature and Severity of Punishment Punishment, Suffering, and Target-Centeredness: A Philosophical Reconsideration of the Nature and Severity of Punishment 9594 10.22124/jol.2026.32330.2675 FA Nabiollah Gholami Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Religion and Law, Human Rights, Peace and Democracy Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2025 11 19 Critiquing the institutional approach that views punishment merely as a legal-juridical mechanism, this study redefines punishment as a painful, imposed lived experience. Utilizing a conceptual-analytical method grounded in phenomenological and normative analysis, the research examines the nexus between suffering and punishment and its implications for criminal justice. By challenging objectivist and institutional theories, the findings demonstrate that suffering constitutes the substantive core of punishment; without the subject’s personal experience, punishment is reduced to a formal abstraction. The distinction between institutional severity and actual severity reveals that the formal equality of judicial sentences does not equate to parity in the experience of suffering. Consequently, the study concludes that criminal justice necessitates an experience-oriented approach, the individualization of sanctions, and the systematic reduction of unnecessary suffering to achieve genuine equity. Critiquing the institutional approach that views punishment merely as a legal-juridical mechanism, this study redefines punishment as a painful, imposed lived experience. Utilizing a conceptual-analytical method grounded in phenomenological and normative analysis, the research examines the nexus between suffering and punishment and its implications for criminal justice. By challenging objectivist and institutional theories, the findings demonstrate that suffering constitutes the substantive core of punishment; without the subject’s personal experience, punishment is reduced to a formal abstraction. The distinction between institutional severity and actual severity reveals that the formal equality of judicial sentences does not equate to parity in the experience of suffering. Consequently, the study concludes that criminal justice necessitates an experience-oriented approach, the individualization of sanctions, and the systematic reduction of unnecessary suffering to achieve genuine equity.