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by Eldarrion 3834 days ago
The argument is that they already served their sentence. They are free to do as they will. This is effectively in addition to their sentence, retroactively changing the laws. Imagine if suddenly there was a law that said you were to have your tongue cut out if you lied, and that it applied to lies told in the past. How would you feel about that?

The point is, punishments can only be applied to sentences pronounced from this point on, not ones that have already been served or are in the process of being served.

2 comments

This argument seems based much more in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3 of the original text of the constitution. Quoth: "No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."
Ok, this part makes perfect sense: it's clearly unjust to add penalties to sentences after the sentencing phase of the trial is complete.

I'm just wondering if there's an argument here past retroactive sentencing.