 It is in his discussion of the nature, source, and limits of state action and of the nature of rights that Bosanquet introduces the topic of punishment. Bosanquet considers the three dominant theories of punishment—retribution, reformation, and prevention—and seems to find all defective; some have argued that, like Green, in the end Bosanquet does not offer a clear, consistent theory of punishment. Yet Bosanquet writes that “[t]he three main aspects of punishment [...] are really inseparable” (1899 [1923; Sweet and Gaus (ed.) 2001]: 215). Punishment is the response to an act of a bad will—and so it can be regarded as retributivist—but it also has a properly preventive element, as well as a reformatory character (since “the aim of punishment is to make the offender good” (p. 206). The tension among these three theories has also led to the question of whether Bosanquet offers a “unified theory of punishment”, and more recent scholarship, such as that of Brooks (2010), Crossley (2004), and Sweet (2000), all argue that there is a way of reconciling the different theories, though they disagree on the specifics of how that can occur. 