Introduction or preface

- In some of her writings, Simone Weil dealt with the penal question somewhat rapidly, but with a humanitarian spirit. In her book Attente de Dieu (Waiting for God), she devoted a chapter to the topic, stating that punishment, in its best interpretation, must work to the good and have a religious character. She was critical of a method of applying criminal law through trials in which the accused is treated with contempt and deprived of human attention. On the basis of these considerations, she developed an original approach to the concept of secularity: it is positive if it eliminates the claim of a "totalitarian church", but negative if it eliminates all religious, Christian values form social and civil life.