[crazygringo]

No -- words like punishment and retaliation have a connotation of being personal and being emotional, or punishment can be linked to the justice system.

They're not appropriate words for mere policy. Like if you damage your apartment and don't get your security deposit back, that's not punishment or retaliation. It's just policy.

Same thing if you try to return something after thirty days and that's against policy. When they don't take the return, they're not punishing you.

Does that help clarify?

[bensecure]

The difference is in trying to highlight the "policy" as being fundamentally just and fair, versus arbitrary and capricious. If I have a "policy" of beating up anybody who looks at me funny, that doesn't make it any less retaliatory. On the other hand, the justice system has a habit of avoiding the term "punishment" because they don't like the connotation.