<p>We provide summary and critical commentary on the research design and ability of experimental methods to isolate and objectively measure for Smithian sympathy amidst the criminal punishment process. While Adam Smith highlighted the other-regarding nature of sympathy to mitigate against potentially infinite quests for vengeance, his framework was both multifaceted and not a universal account of punitive moderation. Recent experimental methods and results by Aimone et al. (Public Choice 202:343–365, 2024) are praised for ambitiously bringing Smith’s assumptions into the laboratory, but this study remains under specified to precisely determine which of Smith’s varied channels of sympathy is at work or if other factors apart from sympathy are driving the punitive moderation when observed. Further research is needed and additional experiments most encouraged to place the existing findings into comparative context.</p>