 The desert object has already been discussed in  section 2.1:  punishment. There is, of course, much to be said about what punishments are deserved for what wrongs. I highlight here two issues that are particularly salient for retributivists. First, is the question of whether the retributivist can justify inflicting hard treatment in addition to censure—see  section 3.5  and  section 5.  This is tied to the normative status of suffering, which is discussed in  section 4.3.  Second, is the challenge of identifying proportional punishments—discussed in  section 4.4.