[s1artibartfast]

I realistically think that phrase is likely sloppy journalism, or just clickbait. The charitable judgement would be that "treating them the same" means approaching each case as a problem to be solved, with compassion for the offending party, and without hate.

Dont get me wrong, Sapolsky is very much on the side of rehabilitation and restorative justice.

I think he would argue that if we could go in and surgically fix the drunk driver so they never do it again, we should probably do it and then help them have a happy and productive life afterward.

I don't know if he thinks that setting an example isn't useful, or if that he just thinks the pendulum is so far in that direction that it is counter-productive.

My personal view is that modern punishments are way beyond the point have diminishing returns for prevention, but we also have to be careful about making perverse incentives/ rewards. You don't want someone to commit crime just so that they can get extra benefits and help afterwards.

It is a really questionable area that is being explored by some policymakers. For example, San francisco is paying criminals not to shoot people [1]. Does it save lives? probably in the short term? Does it incentivize people to become criminals so that they can get the benefit? Who knows? Does it sounds a lot like paying ransom? It does to me.

https://www.californiacitynews.org/2021/09/don%E2%80%99t-sho....