Viewed through that lens, the accusations against Mr. Weinstein, which include rape, and Mr. Moore, who is accused of molesting teenage girls, are clearer-cut cases for punishment than those against, say, Louis C.K., who masturbated in front of adult women but did not touch them.

It’s also important that courts do not consider only the moment of the crime itself in determining punishment. Our system also punishes defendants who threaten witnesses or obstruct justice, as well as others who help them do so. Here again, the accusations against Mr. Weinstein are especially extreme. According to a report by Ronan Farrow in The New Yorker, he hired ex-Israeli intelligence agents to intimidate victims and journalists into silence.

Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov, two of the women who have accused Louis C.K. of misconduct, have said they stayed silent for years in part because of pressure from Dave Becky, Louis C.K.’s manager. Mr. Becky has denied threatening them. But the women have said they feared that speaking would bring retribution.

Accountability for harm

The question of punishment is merely one factor in considering these cases. The wave of accusations has also led to demands that society recognize and repair the harm of sexual misconduct.

Caroline Framke, a culture critic for Vox, called for an accounting of the “graveyard of potential cut short by careless cruelty.”

The principles of civil law, which are intended to make victims whole and ensure that no one profits from wrongdoing, can offer useful guidance about what is fair, and what is necessary.

A central principle is that the person at fault, not the victim, should bear the cost of the harms of wrongdoing. In law school, budding attorneys learn the “eggshell plaintiff” rule, which says that defendants are responsible for all of the harm they cause, even if the injuries were made more extreme because, say, the victim’s skull was as thin as an eggshell. Otherwise, the reasoning goes, the costs will fall on the victims — a more unfair outcome than holding perpetrators responsible for unexpectedly severe damages.