 Van den Haag’s ideology is clearly conservative; in his book "Punishing Criminals", he defines the primary role of government as “securing rights and duties by specifying them through laws and enforcing the laws.” Van den Haag believed the paramount duty of government is to “provide legal order in which citizens can be secure in their lives, their liberties, and their pursuit of happiness.” The law exists to provide legal order.Van den Haag disputed claims that capital punishment is just a form of legal retribution by claiming that if laws are knowingly broken, legal order can only be maintained by enforcement.Justice, Van den Haag claimed, is blindfolded, while retribution carries the weight of passion behind it; justice being delivered to someone who violates social order knowingly is equal, thus the term legal retribution is void.