If you ask most people the purpose of the legal system in criminal cases, they'll probably tell you that it's to punish criminals. The primary reason, however, is not to punish, but to protect society. That is the overriding goal. Retribution and revenge might feel good to the victim, but that should be a lesser point to the actual system.
In the eyes of the system, getting people out of prison and ensuring that they will abstain from criminal behavior in the future is the perfect outcome. Rehabilitation, if possible, should be the focus.
Sometimes I see people get convicted of manslaughter in accidents and I can't help but think how they're going to prison for something people do every single day but normally get away with. Yeah, they were negligent, but mostly they just got really unlucky. It's such a fine line. Everyone speeds, but now and then speeding ends up costing someone their life. Everyone looks down at the phone while driving once in awhile, but sometimes, very rarely, it gets someone killed.
When that happens I can't help but think that the person responsible has already been punished to a chilling degree, and not only that, but from now on they'll probably be less likely to repeat that behavior than the average person. Yet the law calls for punishment.
It's an imperfect system. When dealing with the complexities of life, however, there probably is no such thing as a perfect system.
