| Not sure why this was downvoted, but I support your question. As modernists, we believe that it's important to punish the person who is responsible for a crime. It is not clear that is 1/ "Justice", 2/ shared by our ancestors, 3/ any more clear or moral than other belief systems. It boils down to the purpose of the modern justice system. I've heard all the following reasons, each with deficiencies: 1) because doing wrong must be met with punishment (tautology) 2) because it keeps dangerous people off the street (not structurally optimized for) 3) because it makes our society safer (abstract/generic) 4) because it makes it clear that each individual is responsible for their actions (most believable to me) I guess my question is this: why do we put people in jail (or kill them)? Personally, I don't think our justice system exists to make "good society" safer[0]; I think it's to control people so they behave in the same way those in charge want people to behave. (I.e., the initial motivation is amoral.) [0] if so, victimless crimes wouldn't be so heavily regulated |