> Even if consequences don’t bring people back from the dead, they are still useful for signaling to society that we recognize the severity of what happened. P

> Even if consequences don’t bring people back from the dead, they are still useful for signaling to society that we recognize the severity of what happened. Punishment shouldn't be used as a signal to the rest of society to show that an event was serious, there are ways to do that without ruining (more) lives. I honestly can't think of a good reason to punish anyone in the US legal system as it has nothing to do with recovery or change for the individual. Laws and punishment should reflect the will and concerns of society though, not the other way around.