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> As for deterrence, I'm not sure that you want to build a system on that as we have; people ought to follow the law and not murder because it is the right thin
by argumentum 12y ago
> As for deterrence, I'm not sure that you want to build a system on that as we have; people ought to follow the law and not murder because it is the right thing to do, not because they're afraid not to.
The problem is there are certain individuals constitutionally incapable of doing "the right thing". They have no respect for the lives of others, and can only be deterred by fear of punishment.
We call them psychopaths.
- thirsteh 12y agoThe problem with psychopaths is that they don't fear anything, although they may rationalize (in their mind) that some consequence will prevent them from doing X, Y, Z thing they want to do, and thus avoid it. Anyway, violent psychopaths belong in mental institutions (for life, if it is determined that they remain a threat to society.) I don't think many people disagree with that. This has almost nothing to do with, for example, sentencing on crack being tougher than on cocaine, and rape being worse than murder. Also, most people convicted of crimes aren't psychopaths, although they often have (fixable) mental problems.