Quote:
Originally Posted by Déjà Bru
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Punishment is the way that civilized societies control the worst impulses of human behavior.
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Perhaps we define "civilized" differently.
You might find that some of our societies that you find, relatively, un"civilized" are very big on punishment. There's probably reasons for that correlation.
That's not to say that there should never be punishment. But we're way too free with it. It should be reserved for certain types of transgressions and transgressors not the first course of action for everybody.
Punishment for transgressions performed in the heat of the moment (like a fight) would seem to have little deterrent effect. Few people when about to fight are thinking about the pros and cons of engaging in that activity.
Punishment for things like white collar crimes would seem to be more effective since those plans are actively planned out and the perpetrators are going through a process of consideration before commiting the crime.
People who are deemed to be a future threat to others/society because they have committed a heat of the moment transgression may need to be "shielded" in some way from society (or vice versa) but that's not, necessarily, punishment.