> Perhaps we should have neither? There is a scifi concept in the Culture book series. It is called a slap drone. The society described in the books is a post

> Perhaps we should have neither? There is a scifi concept in the Culture book series. It is called a slap drone. The society described in the books is a post-scarcity society. Nobody has to commit crimes out of economic desperation. Still there are some who hurt others (crimes of passion, mental disturbances, etc). They don’t throw these people into a prison but assign a robot guardian to them to prevent them hurting anybody ever again. And that robot guardian is called the slap drone. There is an element of prevention: the robot is faster, smarter, and better armed than the convict is, therefore can prevent any further undesired behaviour. This is where the name “slap-drone” comes from. In most circumstances a convict never threatens anyone again. But if and when they do a simple slap is often enough to stop them. And there is an element of punishment: the drone hangs out with the comvict all the time and warns others about what you have done. (Either verbaly or by just its very presence.) Which results in others being more cautious around the convict. Perhaps the convict is then not invited to the best, most exlusive parties and so on. And this social stigma acts as a deterent for others. Clearly we are nowhere near able to produce such a robot. Many other things would be different about our societies if we could. It is not a practical proposal in any way, but I kinda like it as a thought experiment. Showing that there are possible ways we could handle crime more humanly maybe one day.