歷史上號稱以儒者治天下的漢代，卻在《漢書‧刑法志》中揭露出不同的面貌。本文所欲探討的內容，即是班固針對西漢用刑的實際情況提出的批評，以及包括刑罰與官吏兩者該如何改進的解決之道，以印證班固對「刑」的基本要求與看法，並以班固對「刑」的基本看法為基礎，深入探討班固如何在不違背宣漢的立場，以及君王重刑甚於禮樂的時代風氣之下，賦予「刑」制輔助、推動禮樂教化的精神。

The Han Dynasty has generally been praised for applying Confucianism to its reign. The Han Shu．Shing Fa Zhi however has disclosed some different points of view. In this paper, an attempt has been made to discuss Ban Gu’s criticism on the infliction of penalty, and how he tried to improve both of the penalty and bureaucratic policy. Furthermore, on the basis of the fundamental claim of penalty and his criticism on, this paper also discusses the concept of penalty and gives a new definition, for at that time, penalty was being more emphasized than the Confucian rites and music.