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>The point is that there's nothing inherently immoral about family punishment from a consequentialist lens. Consequentialist morality is based solely on outcomes; therefore, if family punishment results in fewer crimes perpetrated on innocent people, there is not a coherent consequentialist argument for family punishment being immoral. It suggests that there's some cost/benefit ratio at which family punishment could be considered morally correct. If one assumes that the families of those who commit crimes are innocent as well, punishing those families are also crimes against innocent people. By your own logic, punishing ten innocent members of a family for a crime committed by a relative against a single person makes things worse, not better -- as more crimes (and more innocent people hurt) are committed in executing such punishment than the harm caused by the initial crime. In fact, in the US at least, we already inflict a version of this on the communities of those who commit crimes. If someone commits a crime and is convicted, they are generally discriminated against in finding jobs, getting housing, being able to exercise the political franchise and a variety of other punitive "punishments" that are beyond those prescribed by law. This encourages recidivism, reduces potential economic output, reduces economic/social/political opportunities and otherwise negatively affects the families and communities of those convicted, even after completing the official punishment for whatever crime may have been committed. While there certainly are folks who cannot integrate into society without harming it (e.g., serial killers) and, as such, should be permanently removed from society in order to protect the other members of that society, most folks who commit crimes are not such people. However, when we discriminate against those who have already been punished for their crimes, we intentionally put them at odds with society, increasing the risk of recidivism. And more's the pity. |