4 ms·
Tell that to the victim(s) and their families.
by groffee 4y ago
Tell that to the victim(s) and their families.
- DubiousPusher 4y agoThe criminal justice system should not be a revenge system for victims and their families.
- nlitened 4y agoWhy not?
- Tepix 4y agoWhat good does it do?
- nlitened 4y agoVictims rightfully desire revenge. If criminal justice system did not provide at least partial revenge, people would start searching for (and finding) other ways to conduct it.
- DubiousPusher 4y agoThere's hundreds of years of art and literature you can delve into if you're genuinely interested in the idea, from Victor Hugo to Dostoyevsky to Arthur Miller. But I guess to me it boils down to this. Harming other people, even within the context of civil institutions is harmful to the soul. It creates abusive relationships that degrade the harmer and the harmee. When we institutionalize harm we separate ourselves from that degradation and make others bear it. Furthermore, that culture of harm is not static. It is capable of moving through our society and reaching indirectly all kinds of people. Our civilizational aspirations should take us away from revenge and towards grace and understanding. But that's just like my opinion man.
- Georgelemental 4y agoIt's not just the people the murderer already killed, it's all his other potential victims, now that he has demonstrated himself to be willing and able to take innocent human lives.
- acjohnson55 4y agoAs someone who has known several people among my family and friends who have been murdered, I don't think the wishes of the victim's family should be the overriding concern. Many victims desire righteous retribution, but that doesn't mean we have to fulfill that wish. At some point, you're just outsourcing vendetta violence to the state, to give it a veneer of civility. The point of the justice system should primarily be public safety. Accountability is important, too, but there are many more ways to achieve that than inflicting damage on perpetrators.