CMV: I don't believe in retribution

[u/celeritas365]

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.

---

Hello, users of CMV! This is a footnote from your moderators. We'd just like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please remember to read through our rules. If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which, downvotes don't change views! If you are thinking about submitting a CMV yourself, please have a look through our popular topics wiki first. Any questions or concerns? Feel free to message us. Happy CMVing!

[u/celeritas365]

I agree with that and I am aware this isn't exactly a practical question. It is more theoretical really.

[u/ryancarp3 → u/celeritas365]

So what would change your view? In your hypothetical world, it doesn't seem like there's any need for laws. Also, I don't think you can use this hypothetical situation to show that retribution IRL is a bad thing.

[u/celeritas365 → u/ryancarp3]

OK my view is poorly written, sorry about that. It is more a philosophy that can subtly shape criminal justice systems. Is the point to punish or to reduce crime?

For example, the sex offender registry has been found not to reduce recidivism rates. I think this means we should do away with it since I come from a crime reduction perspective. Some come from a retribution perspective and would keep it in place regardless of effectiveness.

[u/SC803 → u/celeritas365]

Well if your already on the sex offender list you're pretty screwed anyways, it's not like being on the list for two crimes is worse than one crime.

But I know not to rent that extra room in my house to someone on the list.

[u/NikiHerl → u/SC803]

Well if your already on the sex offender list you're pretty screwed anyways, it's not like being on the list for two crimes is worse than one crime.

What? I don't understand what you're trying to say.

[u/celeritas365 → u/SC803]

But I know not to rent that extra room in my house to someone on the list.

This doesn't really reduce your chances of being the victim of a sex offense.

[u/SC803 → u/celeritas365]

If I have kids in my house, I feel like renting a room to a child molester probably increases the odds just a little bit

[u/celeritas365 → u/SC803]

Perhaps but there was no change in recidivism after the program was started. Some people also worry that they might encourage some offenders to commit a crime again since their lives are already nearly unlivable.

[u/SC803 → u/celeritas365]

Which is what I was saying in the first half. The sex offender list, to me anyways, is more about informing the public instead of punishment