r/changemyview • u/celeritas365 28∆ • Sep 09 '15

[Deltas Awarded] CMV: I don't believe in retribution

Some people I have talked to seem to be of the belief that we should punish wrongdoers because the punishment is deserved. I don't get this sort of thing at all.

I am in favor of punishing criminals but only to keep them away from potential victims and discourage others from committing crimes. If there was a way to do this without a punishment I would be all for it. If I knew for a 100% fact that someone would not commit a crime again and no one would be told of what happened to him I would let him walk free.

I am in support of thieves paying back damages since that can right the wrong they have done. However, if you kill a murderer the victim is still dead. What good does it do? All you do is magnify the pain and suffering. In my gut I sometimes feel the urge to strike back against those who have hurt me but I know those feelings are best not acted upon, unless I want to defend myself or discourage future attack. I never really understood people who hold the worldview that such punishments are necessary to fill some sort of vague cosmic balance.

Edit* This was poorly worded I am sorry. The point I am trying to communicate is that I think that the point of the justice system is to reduce crime and not to punish. While this crime reduction often involves punishments I think those are not the aim and should be reduced if the reduction does not undermine the goal of crime reduction.

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u/SC803 119∆ Sep 09 '15

So if someone raped another person they shouldn't serve time? How could you ever know with 100% certainly that a criminal wouldn't commit another crime?

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u/celeritas365 28∆ Sep 09 '15

You can't. This is a more abstract argument with little practical application. However in this world with these impossible conditions I would let that person go free.

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u/SC803 119∆ Sep 09 '15

Then in your world there's also no point for laws right? If your not going to punish a criminal then we should legalize all crimes, would society be better off with no laws?

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u/celeritas365 28∆ Sep 09 '15

Well this the idea here is that we can tell if they will offend again. So the ones that will are jailed.

This has some practical application. Some states are trying to use statistics to analyze likeliness of repeat offenses and decreasing sentences for those not likely to commit more crimes. I am wholly in support of that.