pokoko on 26 March 2016
First and foremost, the primary function of the criminal justice system is to protect society, not to punish criminals. Actually, that should be functions 1-10, just to hammer home that fact. Punishment for the sake of punishment is nothing next to that consideration. Revenge is not justice.
When we get to the idea of killing someone, of legally taking their life away, as a society, it should be with that idea in mind, that it's done to protect the populace from someone who has been judged to be a threat as long as they draw breath. That should be the only reason it's done, if we're going to do it at all. Something as petty as punishment should never enter the equation.
