Punishment

 

I Wanna Be Around

When somebody breaks your heart like you broke mine
That's when I'll discover that revenge is sweet,
As I sit there applauding from a front row seat,
When somebody breaks your heart like you broke mine

Revenge may be sweet, but prevention is even sweeter.

“An eye for an eye” is not only a Biblical phrase.  It dates back to the Code of Hammurabi. It does say that the guilty should be punished.  But it also says that the punishment should fit the crime.  Revenge might have been “A life for your eye.”  This phrase should be read that vengeance, i.e. punishing the guilty, is NOT the intent.  Protecting the innocent is the intent.  The guilty have to be punished in such  a  way that the innocent are protected.  Punishing  the guilty who have been caught  is a way of changing the consequences of the risk such that the price paid might deter other offenders. This protects the innocent from those who have not yet been caught, or have not even committed a crime.  Exacting vengeance on the guilty who are caught is not the intent of the law.  Cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden under the US Constitution.  It honors the principle that the punishment should fit the crime.  What is unstated is that this protects the innocent from the guilty who have not yet been caught or not yet committed a guilty act.  It is not a license to impose a punishment on those guilty who are caught that is commensurate with all of the guilty who were not caught. Those who are caught should not be scapegoats for those who were not caught.

Acts of vengeance inspire ever larger acts of vengeance to response to the initial act.  Acts of justice, not vengeance, are intended to protect the innocent so that future acts of vengeance are averted.

For example, those who steal have no incentive to produce because they could always steal property from those who have produced.  Those from the property is stolen  have no incentive to produce because whatever they produce might be stolen.  Society wants people to produce.  It enacts and enforces laws against stealing because it wants to encourage production, not only because it wants to punish stealing.  This means that the penalty for stealing should encourage production, not merely punish stealing.  Killing those who are guilty of stealing punishes only those who have been caught stealing.  Killing is an act of vengeance, not prevention.