When evidence of the effect of a crime on its victims and their families is used to determine a sentence, focus should not be society's need for retribution. The socially-oriented idea of just deserts is not an effective rationale for criminal punishment. Instead, members of society derive individual satisfaction when they know that a criminal is being punished for his crime. When individual vengeance is accepted as a rationale for punishment, then the effects of the crime and the victim's family are readily accepted. While the article does not grapple with the ethical and moral questions raised by the proposed rationale, it does acknowledge that courts considering individual vengeance could precipitate results in which varying sentences for the same crime are handed out. Additionally, the satisfaction gained by individuals when they know that violent criminals are punished argues strongly for the cause of victims' rights. 82 footnotes.