In a sample survey of Seattle residents, respondents were most likely to choose retribution as the primary purpose of punishment, followed by incapacitation, rehabilitation, specific and general deterrence, and normative validation. A preference for retribution increases dramatically with age, but declines with educational attainment. Proponents of retribution and normative validation are most likely to favor the death penalty, but, contrary to common assumption, retributivists constitute only a minority of those who support capital punishment. (Author abstract)